Out of This World
by woolenslipper
Summary: Jack and Elizabeth have a love affair of astronomical proportions
1. Chapter 1

**Out of this World**

 **A When Calls the Heart Jack and Elizabeth Story**

 **CHAPTER 1 – THE MANIFEST**

"Why do you have to move so far away?" Julie whined as she watched her older sister Elizabeth put another folded blouse on the bed. It was a late summer afternoon and the sun shone through the window pane of one of the mansion's upstairs bedrooms.

Elizabeth Thatcher smiled as she rummaged through her dresser drawer and took out five pairs of socks which she added to the large stack of clothes she had already assembled. "I'm going to teach. It's an adventure. On my own. In the frontier. I'm excited."

"But there are hundreds of places where you could teach that are closer", Julie argued as she picked up a pair of socks which had rolled off the pile and landed on the floor and returned it to the pile on the bed.

"But the closer places don't need teachers," Elizabeth reminded her. "And . . . well, I feel a calling to go."

Elizabeth was exaggerating slightly. When she had received her teaching orders last month, her first feeling wasn't that she had received a calling. It was terror. She had gotten a pit in her stomach when she thought about how far from home she would be moving. She worried about missing her family. That she wasn't capable of handling the job. That it was too dangerous.

"Can I have any clothes you're not taking?" Julie asked as she noticed how many items were still left in her sister's closet.

"Of course. But do me a favor and make sure no one messes with my novels", Elizabeth said as she glanced to her bookcase with the large glass doors. Inside were nestled two dozen of Elizabeth's favorite books.

"Those old things. Why would anyone even want to touch them?"

"They are not _old things_. They are antiques. And I love them. I found a first edition Jane Austen at the antique store on Mulberry Street last week. It cost me a small fortune."

"More than that silly first edition Nicholas Sparks you bought last month? I could have bought a new pair of shoes for what you paid."

"This one cost three times that one." Elizabeth frowned slightly when she realized that she was spending more money than she was taking in on her hobby of collecting books.

"Why aren't you taking them with you?"

"They weigh too much. I can only travel with fifty pounds."

"How big is this place you're going to?"

"It's called Coal Valley because the geological make-up is coal. But with the right development, farming is possible. It's got two hundred and thirty-seven men, one hundred and eighty-two women, and forty-one children."

"Forty-one?"

"Yep. And I'll be the only teacher. The last one left months ago."

"Are you counting that law enforcement officer Daddy is sending when you counted the men?" Julie asked with a sly grin and a twinkle in her eyes.

'How did you know about that?" Elizabeth asked with a scowl when she thought about what her father had done.

William Thatcher, as president and owner of Thatcher Shipping managed to run a successful business with a firm hand. He tended to try and run his family the same way. Elizabeth had seen the messages between her father and his assistant where he had demanded that strings be pulled and someone sent to accompany his daughter. Or at the very least, keep an eye on her at her new home.

"I heard Daddy telling mother that he made sure that there was going to be protection out there. He called in some favors. You know, most of the shipping there is done on our transporters. If Daddy wants you kept safe, there's nothing you can do about it."

"I can go millions of miles away and I still can't get out from under our father", Elizabeth remarked with a sigh.

"Did you survey him? This law enforcement guy?"

"No, I didn't survey him!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"Because it's creepy. Watching people like that."

"It's not creepy. Everyone does it. And it's not like we're seeing anything private. We can only see what he's doing in public areas."

"It's still creepy."

Julie flopped down on the bed. "He could be an old stickler for rules. Or he could be a young stud. I'm going to do it. What's his E.C.?" she asked eagerly.

Elizabeth continued inspecting her clothes. Pushing the hangars aside as she dismissed one outfit after another as unsuitable for her new teaching job. "I have no idea", she answered.

"Where's the manifest?" Julie didn't wait for Elizabeth to reply but got up from the bed and began looking through the papers on Elizabeth's desk until she found what she was looking for.

"How cute, you printed it out. You are so behind-the-times", she said with a smile as she sat back on the bed. "Now what's his name? Any idea?"

"Jack Thornton."

"You memorized that pretty quickly. Maybe my sister is hoping for a little romance?" Julie teased.

"I am _not_ hoping for a little romance. I just remember it because his last name begins with a T and he is alphabetically in line after me. I noticed it when they updated the travel manifest a few days ago. That they had added another person", Elizabeth said defensively.

Even though Julie was the younger sister, she had dated far more men than Elizabeth. While Elizabeth felt a calling to be a teacher, Julie felt a calling to kiss every available man on the planet. Or almost every one – saving a few for Elizabeth. She also felt it necessary to give Elizabeth pointers on how to entice eligible bachelors despite Elizabeth's assertions that she wasn't interested.

Julie scrolled her finger down the page until she came to the last names beginning with the letter T. "Thady, Thames, Thatcher, Thornton. Jack Thornton. Here it is. Jack Thornton. Earth Citizen number DL-1041981."

Julie punched the number into her silver bracelet. "Pay attention, Elizabeth. It's coming up."

Elizabeth, gave up trying to decide if a green outfit was appropriate, and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Julie as the three-dimensional image of a man formed in front of them. She wouldn't admit it to Julie, but her curiosity was piqued. She would be spending the next four months on a transporter with a group of sixty individuals, including this unknown Jack Thornton.

"Oh, he's cute!" Julie exclaimed.

The hologram image taken from cameras hundreds of miles away was clear enough that they could see that the man was dressed in the uniform of the North America Defense Force. He appeared to be average height. Or maybe just above average. Not quite six feet but close to it.

His build wasn't large, but was well proportioned. Maybe one hundred and eighty pounds, Elizabeth guessed and realized she was staring too much at him.

The man was moving about a small office as he tossed things into a box. He lifted his head and appeared to call out through the room's open door.

"I wish Surveyors had sound", Julie said wistfully. "Then we'd know what his voice is like. I bet it's strong but soothing."

Elizabeth scoffed. "It's bad enough that we're invading his privacy by watching him. And what in the world makes you think he has a strong and soothing voice?"

"It's not invading his privacy. If it was private there'd be an iron curtain around it", Julie replied dismissively.

Ever since surveying had been produced more than a decade ago, public spaces were available for anyone who wanted to observe another Earth Citizen. Which is one of the reasons why Elizabeth preferred spending time with her friends in a private home rather than a restaurant or outdoor space. Unlike public areas, private homes – even if they contained cameras – weren't linked in to the Surveyor system. Elizabeth also liked to keep her E.C. number private, much to the chagrin of Julie, who constantly gave out her own E.C. number to every handsome guy she met so that he could watch her stroll down the streets and ogle her.

"He just looks like he does. Strong and professional sounding when he's in uniform. Seductive when he's in a bedroom. You have to let me know when you find out."

"Julie!" Elizabeth couldn't pretend to be surprised. Her sister was always one to say something tawdry. "I may never even meet him."

"Of course, you will. You're stuck on that transporter for months. Unable to escape."

Elizabeth laughed. "It's not a prison. And there's supposed to be plenty to do on it. "

"Look at his arm muscles. He could put me in prison whenever he wanted", Julie said in awe as she ignored her sister and stared at the hologram. The man was lifting a box from the top of a shelf. "I wonder if he's single", Julie mused. "Probably. Why else would he be going away for two years."

"Zoom in and see if he's wearing a marriage ring," Elizabeth remarked as she found herself still staring at the good-looking hologram image in front of her.

"I can't zoom in. This is the older model. Daddy took away my allowance after my trip to Katmandu and I can't afford to buy a new one. Besides, marriage rings went out in the beginning of the twenty-first century." Julie chuckled. "You are so old-fashioned. Marriage rings. That's cute."

Elizabeth stood up from the bed and moved closer to the hologram as another man had now entered the scene. "It looks like they're arguing. Jack's not very happy."

"So, you're on a first name basis with him already?" Julie teased.

"Hush. He's not happy about something. Oh dear, is that a map of the galaxy he's pointing at?"

Julie strained her eyes and moved even closer until she was almost face to face with the holograms. "Let me see if I can still remember that lip reading class I took," she said. "I think he's saying something about Mock Earth."

"Why couldn't you take that job on Mock Earth? It'd be so much closer", Julie asked as she turned to glance at her sister. "It's only a week-long flight."

"Because Mock Earth doesn't need me. And it's too much like here. I want excitement. I want something different."

"Oh, you're going to get something different. Isolated. Primitive. Lonely."

"Undeveloped. Simple. Natural", Elizabeth countered with a smile, but Julie had already returned her attention to the hologram.

"He's definitely yelling about something. And the other guy is trying to calm him down."

"What's he yelling?"

"Something about - oh dear."

"What? What?!" Elizabeth asked anxiously as she watched the handsome man in uniform throw a book into the cardboard box.

Julie cringed. "I think he just yelled 'Where the hell is Coal Valley and who the hell is Elizabeth Thatcher?'"

"Turn it off! Turn it off!"

"He can't see us or hear us. We're in a private home", Julie reminded her.

Nevertheless, she pushed the small red button on her bracelet and the hologram image of the handsome Jack Thornton disappeared. She looked around the room which had been Elizabeth's bedroom since they were little and then returned her attention to her sister. "I'm going to miss you."

"You can come for a visit" Elizabeth replied eagerly. "Just let me get settled in and then come stay with me."

"I am not coming for a visit. Of all the planets, you had to pick one that takes four months to get there!"

"Those four months will come in handy as I prepare my lesson plans. And I can start teaching the children on the transporter with me. I counted four."

Julie had picked up the manifest again and was looking at the list of sixty names. "Um. Elizabeth, maybe you should be extra nice when you meet this Jack Thornton?"

"Why?" Elizabeth scoffed. "Just because he's good-looking?"

"No. Although that's always a good reason. But seriously, from what we just witnessed he's not too happy about Daddy switching his orders from Mock Earth to that desolate colony planet you're going to."

"I probably won't see much of him. I don't expect to need to deal with law enforcement."

"Elizabeth, you do know how you're situated on the transporter, don't you? Your living accommodations?"

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth scrunched her eyebrows and looked curiously at her sister.

"How your sleeping berths and well, everything, is organized."

"I get an assigned place when I board," Elizabeth answered. "And that's where I spend the next four months until we land. I mean, we have a large cafeteria for eating, and there's a gym onboard, and other amenities. But all the passengers are assigned berths and small living quarters to share with a few others. So?"

"Just how big are these living quarters?" Julie asked.

Elizabeth held up a pair of boots in each hand before answering. "Which ones?"

"The black ones. They're more fashionable."

Elizabeth tossed the black boots onto the bed. "I don't know. About ten feet by ten feet. They each have four lockers and four berths. Two upper and two lower."

"Four berths in a ten by ten room?! My closet is bigger than that!"

Elizabeth chuckled. "It's not ideal but it's an adventure."

"And don't you think you'll be seeing this Jack Thornton onboard?" Julie asked skeptically.

"I don't see why. If he insists on holding a grudge because Daddy had his orders changed, I'll just avoid him. I'll probably spend a lot of time in my quarters reading and preparing lectures."

Elizabeth frowned at her sister's expression and then returned to looking at her closet. She had no idea why her younger sister was now smiling as if she had just learned something humorous. "Do you think I'll need a ski jacket?" she asked.

"No. And you're going to have a hard time avoiding him", Julie remarked.

"Why do you say that?"

Julie's eye glistened with laughter when she spoke. "Transporter accommodations are always arranged alphabetically. You're a Thatcher. He's a Thornton. T H. T H. You'll be sleeping with him and sharing living accommodations with him for the next four months!"

Elizabeth, her eyes wide in shock, dropped the jacket in her hand and turned to stare at Julie who was smiling broadly.

"I wonder if you'll be sleeping on top or he will, my dear sister", Julie said with a mischievous grin.

 **Up Next: Chapter 2- The man from the Hologram**

 **P.S. Can you figure out the letters and numbers for Jack's E.C. identifier?**


	2. Chapter 2 -The man from the Hologram

**CHAPTER 2 – THE MAN FROM THE HOLOGRAM**

The airport waiting room was crowded and unorganized. Most of the passengers had known about the trip for months or maybe even a year, and yet they seemed to have forgotten items at the very last minute.

Jack scowled. He hated things that were unorganized. He had had one week's notice about his new assignment and he had managed to be perfectly organized and on-time.

Not that he had a lot of luggage. He was single and was used to traveling lightly. Wherever the North America Defense Force had previously sent him, he had been willing to go. Even on special assignments where he had been given only forty-eight hours' notice.

Forty-eight hours had always been enough time to throw some clothes into a bag, hug his mom goodbye, share some farewell drinks with his buddies, and notify his landlord and neighbors to keep an eye on his apartment for a few weeks, or even the six months he had planned to spend on Mock Earth.

But this. This trip was different. Two years.

Two years on a colony that took four months to travel to.

There would be no twice-yearly or even yearly visits home as would be expected if he was moving to a closer plant or space station.

Charlotte Thornton had tried to keep her eyes from tearing up when she had hugged him goodbye, but Jack – who told his mother not to come to the airport - had seen her cry anyway. It was best they said their farewells at home. Charlotte was a strong woman but the idea of not seeing her oldest son for at least two years broke her resolve to be enthusiastic for his adventure.

Jack's brother, Tom, had been much less emotional. "Send me a hologram sometime", had been the extent of his concern when Jack had sent him a live message to tell him of the change in his plans.

Jack tossed his duffel bag onto an empty seat and then took a seat for himself as he scanned the crowd. She was here somewhere. The woman who caused his mother to cry. The woman who caused the change in his orders. The object of his irritation.

Thatcher, Elizabeth. Earth Citizen number EK-0951984.

He had seen a few photographs of the woman. She wasn't striking but she was attractive enough. Fair features. Long hair. Good figure.

Jack didn't understand why her father thought law enforcement needed to be sent to a desolate outpost - or how he managed to get his superiors to agree to it- just to protect one woman. Jack reasoned that if the woman's father didn't have any faith in her abilities, he shouldn't be letting her go. Any man who could get a North America Defense Force officer's assignment changed could surely have gotten a teacher's assignment changed instead.

As he sat for a few minutes, Jack finished sending out some messages to friends and to a nurse with whom he was supposed to meet for dinner and then put away his communicator. He probably should have cancelled the dinner date when he first found out he'd be leaving the planet, but to be honest, he had totally forgotten about her. She was a nice enough – actually very sweet - but nothing special. To use his mother's terms, his planned dinner companion just wasn't someone who " _got_ to him". Whatever that meant.

He still wasn't sure what "got to him" was supposed to feel like. Just that he hadn't experienced it yet.

Jack picked up his duffel bag and got in line behind a woman wearing jeans, black boots, and a baseball cap. As a matter of occupational habit, he calculated the woman's height and weight.

 _Not bad_ , he thought appreciatively.

Five minutes later, he let out an exasperated sigh at the length of time that the five-foot ten inches and one-hundred and thirty-pound woman with the attractive figure was taking to get her bags checked.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry. But you can't take it all," the attendant behind the counter patiently explained for the third time. "You're massively overweight."

"But I weighed them! It's fifty pounds exactly", a frazzled Elizabeth explained as she pushed back her baseball cap and glared at the woman. "That's the weight limit."

"Miss Thatcher, the baggage weight limit is fifty pounds for _scientists_. You're not listed in the computer as a scientist or researcher."

"Well, no. I'm not. Not a scientist or researcher. I'm a teacher", Elizabeth said hesitantly as she realized that maybe she hadn't read the transporter instructors carefully enough.

"Don't you make weight limit exceptions for teachers?" she asked with slight pleading in her voice.

'No."

"What's my weight limit?"

"Twenty-five pounds", the attendant said firmly.

"Twenty-five pounds! I can't live off of twenty-five pounds for the next two years!"

 _Oh, God, It can't be. You have got to be kidding me,_ Jack thought in disgust as he listened to the conversation and heard the name. _That's her?! That's Elizabeth Thatcher!_

"Ma'am, why don't you move off to the side and see if you can get rid of some unnecessary items. Next please."

"But it's all necessary", Elizabeth explained as she un-zipped one bag and began looking through it.

Jack moved up to the counter, reached past Elizabeth who hadn't moved to the side despite the attendant's suggestion, and handed his E.C card to the attendant.

While the attendant scanned his card, Jack looked sideways at Elizabeth who was now immersed in her belongings.

"A ski jacket?!" he asked incredulously when he saw her pull a pale blue winter jacket out of her bag.

"I thought I might ski in my down time", Elizabeth remarked when she heard the man's voice. She kept her eyes focused on her bag and realized that she should have listened to Julie who told her not to take the jacket.

"We're going to a colony on Planet Assaymark. Not Lake Tahoe", the man spoke again. His voice dripping with condenscension.

Elizabeth lifted her head and looked at the rude man next to her for the first time. _No. Not the first time,_ she realized. _The second time_. She had seen him before.

 _Jack Thornton!_

 _He's just like his hologram. Only real._

 _Oh, he smells nice!_

 _Oh, he doesn't seem happy._

"Um, Mock Earth has a man-made ski slope", she said defensively. "I thought maybe Planet Assaymark might also."

"Mock Earth is an international space station with thousands of citizens. We are going to a planet that is in the early phases of being colonized", Jack said in a snarky voice as if the woman next to him had no real idea of their destination.

"Ditch the ski jacket", he said as he put his duffel bag on the scales.

As he waited for his bag to be weighed, scanned for contaminates, and tagged, he continued to look at Elizabeth as she returned to rummaging through her belongings.

He couldn't help but smile as she put three books in the discard pile, then returned them to the bag, then took them out again. Back and forth went the books. Discard. Keep. Discard. Keep.

Elizabeth stood there with the books in her hands as if they were a basic necessity for human sustainability.

"Ditch them", Jack ordered in the voice of a man used to giving orders. And having them followed.

"I can't! They're books!" she wailed.

"I know what they are. They're excess weight", he replied curtly.

"Books are NOT excess weight! They are stories and history and lives and –"

"And excess weight keeping you from getting on this transporter", he interrupted.

When she looked at him with narrowed eyes and a retort on the tip of her tongue, Jack tried a different approach.

"You can read things electronically. No one even uses actual books anymore. Those are relics."

"But. . . but –." Elizabeth didn't know how to explain how important her books were to her. She had planned on leaving them locked in her bookcase at home, but when she had weighed her belongings in the scale in her bedroom and realized that she was only at forty-eight pounds, she had gleefully packed them for the voyage.

Jack shook his head in disgust.

"Maybe you haven't thought this whole thing through enough. It's not too late to change your mind. There's no reason why you have to get on this transporter", he remarked. "In fact, I bet you –"

"Sir, your bag weighs twenty-three pounds", the pretty attendant behind the counter interrupted helpfully. "You're two pounds under weight. If you'd like to take the lady's books in your bag, that might be helpful."

"Oh, would you?!" an eager Elizabeth asked hopefully.

Without waiting for a reply, she tried to hand the books to him. "They're wonderful. You can read them if you want. Just be careful turning the pages. They're a little brittle."

A speechless Jack stood there looking at her. _She has got to be kidding!_

"Sir, there's a line forming behind you. Are you willing to take the lady's books in your luggage?"

"Fine", Jack gave an irritated shake of his head. "Put them in my bag", he replied to the attendant as Elizabeth handed them over the counter.

"Thank you!" Elizabeth said to Jack.

Now that her books were safe, she quickly returned her attention to her bags which were still more than twenty pounds overweight.

Jack took his pass from the attendant and moved away from the counter, but then stopped and turned back to Elizabeth. He realized that he hadn't told her his name. Not that he cared except he didn't want to be saddled with her books for the next two years.

"By the way, I'm Jack Thornton, the law enforcement for Coal Valley. You can find me aboard the ship to reclaim your books."

"I'm Elizabeth Thatcher. The new teacher for Coal Valley", Elizabeth said with a smile as she extended her hand to him. "And I'll get my books as soon as we're on-board. Thanks again."

"You don't have to rush out of your seat before we leave Earth's gravity," Jack said a little more rudely than he had intended as he shook her hand. "Just get them when you see me again."

He realized that he'd probably run into this woman at some point in Coal Valley but he was still too upset over his assignment to be friendly to her any time soon. _Give me a couple months. Or a year._

As Jack walked away to get a cup of coffee before the flight, Elizabeth pulled the manifest from her pocket. Ignoring her open bags and their contents now littering the ground, she ran her finger down the list, checked the names for family groups which would share living quarters. Then she counted the remaining names, and divided them into alphabetically arranged groups of four.

Elizabeth lowered the paper in her hands and watched the back of Jack Thornton as he moved down the large hallway.

 _Julie was right. He does have a strong professional voice._

Julie was right about something else too.

Although Jack hadn't yet realized it, there was no doubt about it.

He was going to be sharing a ten-foot by ten-foot room with Elizabeth for the next four months.

 **Up Next: Chapter 3 - Coffee and Eggs**

P.S. It seems most of you know D. L's birthday! Now, who can figure out the reason behind the planet's name?

P.S.S. To the reader with the Earth Citizen # LN 10111961, happy early birthday!


	3. Chapter 3- Coffee and Eggs

**CHAPTER 3 – COFFEE AND EGGS**

"All passengers awaiting Transporter Flight S5E1, the lift-off time is now scheduled for thirteen hundred hours. We apologize for any delay and will board you as soon as practical."

The clear voice came over the intercom system causing dozens of people sitting in the waiting room's plastic chairs to look up from what they were doing and glance at their watches or the clock on the wall.

Elizabeth sighed. _Might as well grab a cup of coffee and a bite to eat._

* * *

The small café in the terminal was crowded but Elizabeth, carrying a tray of purchased food, spotted an empty seat at a table against the side wall. The other chair at the table was occupied by her future roommate, who was talking to someone on his communicator.

 _We've already introduced ourselves. We might as well get the other hard part out of the way_ , she thought as she straightened her shoulders, held her head up high, and approached him.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked with a friendly smile.

Jack looked up and stared at her. Then he wondered what he had done to be punished so much. First the transfer of orders, then her books in his duffel bag, and now this. She was like a little annoying kitten. Cute but a pest.

He waved his hand towards the empty seat. She took it as an invitation to sit.

While Jack went back to talking to the person on his communicator, Elizabeth took a sip of her warm coffee and stared at her croissant. This might be the last time for the next two years where she had a decent French pastry. She took a bite and savored the chocolate filling as she tried not to eavesdrop on his conversation.

* * *

"I think we should just go ahead and say it like it is. Get it out in the open. Clear the air", Elizabeth said after she had unsuccessfully waited for Jack to speak to her. He had finished his conversation on the communicator two minutes ago and still hadn't said a word to her. "You know, address it head on."

Jack set down his coffee cup and looked her in the eyes. "Yes?"

"I know that you know that I'm the reason that you're here", she began confidently. "We're both adults and professionals."

As a silent Jack continued to simply stare at her with eyes which she surprisingly found incredible, Elizabeth's mind took a detour and she suddenly and unexpectedly wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

 _Stop! That has nothing to do with anything! Forget what Julie said about me and this guy populating the colony!_ she told herself before she started to speak again, but with a bit less confidence.

"I know that my father arranged to have someone sent to Coal Valley because I am moving there."

"And yet you let him do it anyway", Jack interrupted before she could say more.

Elizabeth looked startled by Jack's curt response.

"I don't have any control over my father's actions", she said in her defense.

"Apparently neither do I because my job was in jeopardy if I didn't take this assignment as he requested", he replied harshly.

"I think you're exaggerating slightly."

"I wasn't aware that you could think for yourself."

"How dare you?!" Elizabeth sputtered.

"Let's see. My life has been turned upside down because of you. So, yes, I dare." His eyes were cold as he looked at her.

Elizabeth glared back at him. "I highly doubt that any other assignment would have automatically gotten you promoted to Supreme Protector of the Galaxy. Or maybe you wanted to be Ultimate Defender of Planet Earth."

Elizabeth had no idea if such jobs existed but she couldn't think of a better response to this man's arrogance.

Jack sighed. "Look, I was looking forward to my assignment on Mock Earth. This change has been somewhat of a blow to me. But from the little I've seen of you, I have no idea why you are even going to this planet."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?!"

"You overpacked. You brought a ski jacket. You don't seem to have any idea what you're getting yourself into. You obviously come from money and privilege. So maybe this was just some kind of – I don't know – maybe a whim?" he suggested.

"This is not a whim. I worked out for weeks to get in shape and pass the physical endurance test. I took the mental examination. I –"

"Did you pass? The mental exam?" he asked curiously as he interrupted her.

"Of course I passed!"

'Oh, well that's good", he said pensively before returning his attention to his communicator.

Elizabeth now found herself getting angrier at this man across the table from her who was busy pushing the buttons on his device and treating her with absolute disdain.

"This is not a whim!" she exclaimed and then continued as her voice became more and more shrill. "I passed the physical test! I passed the mental test! I passed the security clearance! I sold my car! I said goodbye to my family and friends! I had my eggs frozen!"

"Excuse me?" Jack asked as he looked up from his communicator to stare at her. The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile as he noticed Elizabeth's cheeks beginning to turn pink.

 _Darn, I wish that I hadn't said that last part_. "I had my eggs frozen", she repeated a little more quietly. Now that she had already yelled it, she couldn't take it back.

"I assume you aren't talking about eggs normally kept in the refrigerator because I don't think they freeze well. And you can always buy more of those when you return in two years. Earth is not planning on running out of hens while we're gone."

Elizabeth glared at him. "You know perfectly well that's not what I'm talking about", she hissed.

Jack picked up his cup of coffee and took another sip before replying.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. We just met", he said with a straight face, but she swore there was a twinkle in his eyes. "Please elaborate. About your frozen eggs. Is that kind of like dyeing eggs for Easter? Because I've always enjoyed that."

"Hush. I had them frozen, not colored", she angrily replied as she shoved a bite of croissant into her mouth.

"Is that why you had a ski jacket? Because you're into cold things? Snow. Ice. Freezing temperatures. Because if you'd like, I'll go order you an iced latte instead of that hot coffee you're drinking."

Elizabeth's lips tightened in a scowl as she stared across the table at the self-assured man who was now clearly finding humor in this conversation.

Elizabeth continued to scowl as she remembered last week's appointment in the doctor's office. The nurse had automatically assumed that Elizabeth couldn't keep a man, or was too occupied with a high-powered job, or was too selfish to have a child at this stage in her life. She had hinted that Elizabeth was probably too busy between boardroom mergers or corporate take-overs to find the elusive Mr. Right, and instead, had squeezed in time during a lunch break to freeze her eggs until it was "more convenient" to have a child. When Elizabeth had politely explained that she was a teacher and wasn't "giving up" on having a husband, but was going to another planet, the nurse had given her a pitiful look. "If you say so dear", the nurse had said simply while Elizabeth, clad in a paper gown, had put her feet up in the set of stirrups. "Really, I'm getting out of this world," Elizabeth had declared to the unbelieving woman. "I'm sure it feels that way, dear. But having children _is part_ of this world. The corporate world isn't all it's cracked up to be", the nurse had said as she jabbed a cold metal surgical instrument into Elizabeth. "I don't have a choice! It's a requirement", Elizabeth had argued with the nurse who had responded, "I'm sure that you'll find someone one day, dear. Perhaps if you weren't such the angry type."

Elizabeth shook the image from her mind and tried to calmly speak to the man across the table.

"All women of child-bearing age are required to freeze some eggs before they are allowed to move to a remote space location for an extended period of time. Scientists still aren't sure of all the adverse health effects of spending two years in space. There's radiation and different oxygen levels. Different minerals. All sorts of possible contaminates", Elizabeth now responded to Jack. "It's just a safety precaution. "

"Ahh, _those_ types of eggs", Jack said as if he were just now understanding. "You're planning on having kids one day with your .. ." Jack paused for a split second, "boyfriend?"

"I don't have a boyfriend."

"Imagine that."

"You don't have to be so snarky."

"Your father couldn't find you one?"

Elizabeth glared at him "I'll have a husband one day. One that _I_ choose. And yes, I plan on having children one day."

"Mankind thanks you for your contribution to an already crowded Earth", he said dryly.

Elizabeth knew that behind his calm demeanor, he was laughing at her.

"Oh, hush. I was just coming over here to be polite and make conversation."

"And it has proven to be a most interesting conversation." He leaned back in his chair and smiled at her. "So, you're leaving your healthy eggs behind on Earth."

"Just some of them. For goodness sakes, I have plenty more. And I'll probably never even need those I froze. I'm sure I'll be perfectly healthy when I return home. Can we stop talking about it?"

"So, you're leaving _some_ of your healthy eggs behind on Earth and taking your brittle old books with you."

"Actually, _you're_ taking my brittle old books with _you_ ", Elizabeth reminded him with a forced smile plastered on her face. "Please make sure you don't damage them. I assume that you're somewhat of a decent law enforcement officer and can manage to protect some simple books."

She stood up from the table before he could reply. "And just in case you are wondering, I managed to get my luggage down to twenty-five pounds, so I'll be getting on that transporter."

Without another word, she walked away from the table. Leaving a bewildered Jack to watch her stroll down the terminal and wonder why he was starting to find her absolutely fascinating.

He took a sip of coffee and then shook a crazy image from his mind. The picture of her pregnant with his child was ludicrous.

 **Up next: Chapter 4 Lift-Off**


	4. Chapter 4 Lift-off

**CHAPTER FOUR – LIFT OFF**

Forty-five minutes later, Elizabeth slipped her shoulders into the seat harness, clicked the two shoulder strap buckles into the lap belt, and then clicked the two parts of the lap belt together. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. _I can do this!_

"Don't forget to tighten the lap belt", the flight attendant reminded her as she passed by.

"Miss?" Elizabeth called out, causing the slender woman to stop walking and turn back towards her. "How long will we remain in our seats?"

"About one hour and eight to nine minutes."

"One hour and eight to nine minutes?"

The young but experienced flight attendant smiled as she recognized Elizabeth as a new traveler.

"Once we've all boarded and the doors are locked, the crew will begin the final check which takes about an hour. You'll know that it's started when you hear loud sounds as the engine prepares."

"Loud sounds. Got it. No problem."

"You'll also feel the thumping of the valves as the systems are pressurized, and then the rumbling of the engine fires as they start up."

"Thumping and rumbling?"

"That's all before we move. Once we get moving, I'm afraid the next eight to nine minutes will be a bit of a jolt."

"Jolt?" Elizabeth said a little more worriedly.

"What do you know about gravity?" the woman asked. "Tighten your lap belts," she instructed the couple in front of Elizabeth.

"Gravity is the force that pulls things to the earth." Elizabeth practically recited part of one of her planned lessons for her younger students.

"Exactly. After lift-off, we'll be building up speed and the force of gravity increases dramatically. You'll be shaking considerably while at the same time you'll be pressed against your seat with a force twice your weight for a few minutes."

"A few minutes?" Elizabeth put her hand to her chest as she imagined two hundred and sixty pounds sitting on her chest.

The attendant held back a laugh as she quickly realized that Elizabeth must have a habit of repeating words when she was nervous. "As we get higher into the thinning atmosphere, the ship picks up even more speed and you're pressed against your seat with now three times your weight."

" _Three_ times my weight?" a wide-eyed Elizabeth anxiously repeated. _That's three hundred and ninety pounds!_ she quickly calculated _._

"Kind of like a small hippo sitting on your chest making it difficult to breathe. That lasts about another two minutes. Basically, we're going to go from zero miles per hour to seventeen thousand miles per hour in eight and a half minutes. Don't be scared by the really loud bangs. There'll be lots of them."

"Lots of them?" Elizabeth's voice sounded feeble.

"That takes us out of Earth's gravity. And just like that, after only eight or nine minutes of incredibly strong G-forces, we're in space."

"In space?" Elizabeth wondered if she was going to be sick.

"You'll be fine, Miss. You'll be held in place by your shoulder harness until we turn on the artificial gravity. We might be upside down for bit. But just a little bit", the flight attendant said in a motherly voice even though she couldn't have been more than twenty-eight years old.

 _What was I thinking?!_ Elizabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out the transporter instructions.

 _Did I even read this?! Of course, I did. It just seemed not to be so scary when I was sitting at the dining room table talking to my family and eating chocolate cake._

* * *

Elizabeth looked up when she felt someone standing above her.

Jack Thornton!

"This is me," he said in a friendly voice as he pointed to the seat next to her.

Elizabeth simply nodded at him and then returned her attention to the instructions in her hand. She was dismayed to realize that there wasn't a section on emergency landings. _We're doomed._

"You ever flown before?" Jack asked after he had buckled himself in. Since she had made the first move to talk at the coffee shop, he reasoned that he could be polite and make the first move at a conversation here.

"Of course," she replied while putting on a brave face. "I was in Singapore just two weeks ago for a quick conference on teaching methods, and in Boston the week before that."

"I mean a space flight. Not sky flight" he clarified.

Elizabeth's cheeks pinked at her quick answer. _Stupid! Obviously, he meant a space flight!_

"Not a space flight", she said. "But I've been around my father's business all my life so I know quite a bit about it," she added confidently.

"That's good. Are you nervous?"

"Why should I be nervous?"

"Because we're going to accelerate to more than the speed of sound for lift-off. Eventually we'll travel to close to the speed of light. Our stomachs are going to feel like they're in our throats. If there's even the slightest crack in the transporter, we're going to explode into smithereens", Jack declared calmly.

Elizabeth didn't say anything but reached for the plastic-lined vomit bag in her seat pocket.

* * *

As the hour of the safety check counted down, Elizabeth became more and more nervous and wondered if her antiperspirant could handle her anxiety.

Jack must have noticed her unease because to his credit he began a conversation to distract her when she began clutching the armrests in tight grips. If she didn't calm down, the leather on the armrest was going to be in tatters. Jack was pretty sure that he didn't want torn bits of padding and leather floating around in his face. Not to mention, she had piqued his interest. Just a bit.

"Did you know that these seats will be our theater seats once we're out of Earth's orbit? Movies. Plays. Briefings. They use this part of the ship for all sorts of things", he said pleasantly.

When she just turned her head and looked at him, he continued in a friendly and upbeat voice which Elizabeth found rather soothing. "I've heard they even have talent shows in here."

"Talent shows?"

"Yeah. Anything to keep us from getting space-cabin fever I suppose. Do you have a talent?"

"I can sing", Elizabeth offered.

"Me too. I haven't done it in years, but now that I think about it, I miss it. I used to sing at bars in the evenings in college."

"I was in a musical in college. I played a nun who became a governess to a bunch of kids."

"Maybe we can sing a duet," Jack responded.

He was so calm. It was as if they were sitting at a restaurant having a friendly meal rather than strapped into seats on top of fuel tanks which could explode at any minute. Elizabeth felt his calmness spread to her.

"I can play the piano", she volunteered.

"Are you any good?"

"I've been playing since I was little."

"Forced lessons or did you like them?" Jack asked with a smile.

Elizabeth laughed. "Forced. But I'm glad I learned. Do you play an instrument?"

"The guitar."

"That makes sense," she said as she forgot about the thumping, rattling, and vibrations around her.

"Why?"

"Because if you were just singing at a bar without a guitar, it would be a tad bit odd, don't you think?"

Jack laughed. "I think you're right. But I also don't think there's a guitar or piano on this ship", he said with a grin.

Elizabeth smiled back. "Definitely over the twenty-five pound weight limit."

"So I think we'll just have to sing our duet without music", he said with another grin.

"I bet we'll win. You have a nice voice."

When he winked at her, she suddenly felt her heart beat a little faster.

And then the powerful rumbling of the engines on fire started.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Elizabeth kept her mouth tightly shut and swallowed back the vomit coming up her throat as the ship rotated back from being upside down. Her heart palpitations felt like she had just run the two hundred yard dash. And it wasn't from sitting next to Jack. It was from thinking she was going to die at any second. Her eyes were watering. Her hair was floating around her. Her insides felt like they had been stomped on by a herd of elephants.

When she felt a tug, she looked sideways and saw Jack pulling a lock of her hair out of his face. Realizing it had floated into his mouth when he had opened it to speak, she quickly apologized.

"Maybe a hair band would have been helpful", he replied with irritation. It was apparent that even he hadn't enjoyed the lift-off.

Before she could respond, her long hair suddenly fell back into place and cascaded down her shoulders.

 _It fell! It fell! Gravity!_ Elizabeth realized that the crew had turned on the artificial gravity. _Thank goodness. I love gravity._

"Miss Thatcher, a glass of champagne?" a female voice asked a minute later. Elizabeth noticed the woman standing next to her was the same young flight attendant who had spoken to her before lift-off. "We'll be releasing everyone to go to their living compartments in about ten minutes but I thought you might like something now. I have wine if you'd prefer", she added with a smile.

"Oh. How nice. I had no idea you'd be serving something," Elizabeth answered happily. "Actually, a glass of plain water would be just fine, if you have some."

"I'll be back in a moment," the woman said pleasantly before retreating down the aisle.

"She forgot to ask you if you wanted something," Elizabeth said as she turned to look at Jack. "When she comes back, you can ask for a drink."

"Look around, Miss Thatcher. Do you see anyone else getting a complimentary beverage?" Jack asked rudely. His friendly demeanor prior to take-off was gone.

Elizabeth swiveled her head around and noticed that no one else was drinking anything even as the flight attendant walked past the other passengers and handed Elizabeth a cool bottle of water and a crystal glass to drink from.

"If you need anything else, please let me know," the woman said. She walked away without offering to get Jack anything.

A male attendant quickly moved in front of Elizabeth.

"Miss Thatcher?"

The uniformed man who was holding tongs into a foil bag made a gesture towards Elizabeth's hands.

A puzzled Elizabeth handed her water bottle and glass to Jack to hold for her. Ignoring her seat-mate's scowl, she held up her palms.

Using the tongs, the attendant pulled a small warm damp towelette out of his bag, and placed it into her open hands. "Just something to make your feel freshened up," he said with a smile.

"How nice!" She wiped her face, her neck, and her hands, and then handed the eucalyptus-scented towel back to the man who was waiting patiently. "That felt wonderful. Thank you."

"Didn't you want one?" she asked Jack when the attendant walked away. "It really was refreshing."

"I wasn't offered one."

"I don't understand," a puzzled Elizabeth said.

Without bothering to dwell on it at that moment, she took the glass and bottle from Jack's hands, and set the glass on the floor. After unscrewing the bottle, she drank thirstily from it. "I needed that", she said with a satisfied sigh. "Do you want to share mine? You can use the glass."

"No thanks."

"I still don't know why they forgot to offer you anything. Maybe you looked like you handled the lift-off better than me", she said as she screwed the lid back on the bottle and relaxed into her seat.

Jack raised his eyebrows and scoffed. "You're the daughter of William Thatcher, the president and owner of the company that makes most of the world's transporters, including this one. Did you honestly think that wouldn't be noticed?"

"I –" Elizabeth couldn't think of what to say at first. She looked around the ship at the other passengers. They were talking to one another. Fixing their hair. Looking out the window. Looking at computer screens.

Not one of them had a drink. Not one of them had a warm cotton towelette.

Jack was right. She had been singled out by the crew. And it was only the first hour into the trip. What would the next four months be like if her father pulled his weight?

All she knew was that she felt sudden irritation with her father for putting her in this predicament, and that she wanted to crawl under her seat and hide from the passengers who were patiently waiting – without a bottle of water or fresh towel- to be released to their compartments.

No wonder Jack's attitude had changed. She had gone from being a fellow passenger to someone else.

She was a girl who came from a social standing above him and above everyone else on the transporter.

* * *

After a moment of pondering the situation, Elizabeth spoke confidently. "It was my idea to take this job. I am going to Coal Valley to teach and I will do it without my father's help."

"You think you can do that?" Jack asked skeptically.

"I am quite capable of handling my own life," she said firmly.

"I'm not sure you ever have." The condescension he had at the ticket counter was back in his voice.

"You know nothing about me."

"I know about your frozen eggs", he said dryly.

Elizabeth huffed. "Just because you're a Defense officer and a man doesn't make you more capable of living in Coal Valley."

"It has nothing to do with being a Defense officer or a man. Unlike you, I just don't need to be coddled."

"I don't need to be coddled either!"

"I don't mean coddled as in to boil an egg to warm it up. I mean the other kind of coddled", he clarified.

"I know what you meant! I am not an idiot!"

"I think it was hubris that made you decide to go to Coal Valley," Jack replied simply.

"Hubris?"

"It means –"

"I know what it means!" Elizabeth said in irritation when she interrupted him.

"Are you sure? Cause I think that's what it was."

"I'm a teacher! Of course, I know what it means! And I do not have excessive pride or excessive self-confidence."

"We'll see", he said.

He put an end to the conversation by pulling the manifest out of his pocket and reviewing list of names.

* * *

Elizabeth watched as Jack ran his finger along the typed names of all the passengers. It was obvious he was calculating the number of people and how they would be divided.

Jack gave a large sigh of relief. Clearly, he liked the answer to his calculations.

Elizabeth glared at him at first. Then she bit her lip to subdue her laugh.

Reaching over, she pointed her finger at some of the names. "See those? They have the same last names. They're families. There are three families onboard. They each get their own living quarters even if there are only three members or up to five members. That jumbles up the rest of the names. Perhaps you should recalculate," she said with a knowing smile.

Jack gave her a suspicious look. Returning his attention to the list, he mentally recalculated. Dividing up the single passengers into alphabetical groups of four. Four passengers to a room.

When he jerked his head to look at her, let out a groan, and then slumped in his seat, Elizabeth smiled even broader.

 _Yep, he's figured it out._

"At this time, all passengers may completely unbuckle your seat belts", the voice came over the intercom. "Please check your on-board electronic passes which should now contain your assigned living compartments. Your luggage has already been moved there. Meal times are posted in your quarters as well as other rules and information. Welcome to Space. We'll be together for the next four months. We wish you all enjoyable traveling."

Elizabeth quickly stood up and gave Jack a broad smile. "See you in our living quarters, roomie," she said before strolling away.

 **Up Next: Chapter 5**

 **p.s. Only a truly devoted fan may know from where I got the term "hubris". 🙂**


	5. Chapter 5 - Berthing

**CHAPTER 5- BERTHING**

Jack turned the corner and saw Elizabeth walking in his direction from the opposite end of the hallway. She didn't notice him at first as she kept her eyes focused on the door numbers, looking for her assigned quarters as she walked along.

They both got to the metal door at the same time. Their numbers EK-0951984 and DL-1041981 were posted on the wall beside the door along with two other E.C. numbers. Her brand-new Louis Vuitton bag was next to his worn service-issued duffel bag on the floor outside the door waiting for them to move in.

Elizabeth picked up her bag and gave Jack a friendly smile as the automatic door slid open revealing the small room which was already occupied by two passengers.

They had barely started to say hello to their roommates when Jack and Elizabeth both saw what they wanted.

Elizabeth used all her strength to heave her bag upwards. If Jack hadn't quickly pulled back his head out of the way as he threw his own bag, he would have been hit with her designer luggage. With a passing thought, he realized that she had more power in her arms than he would have guessed.

Both bags landed with a plop on the top empty bunk mattress which sank down slightly under the combined fifty pounds.

"I call it."

"Too late. I called it with my bag."

"Your bag almost hit me."

"You shouldn't have been in my way."

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry to take what's mine."

Elizabeth glared at him. If she hadn't gotten lost on the wrong level and gone down the east end of the corridor instead of the west end, she would have gotten to the quarters before him.

"I like to be on top," Jack said.

"Most men do", she replied derisively. "But I like to be on top myself."

"Why am I not surprised?" he remarked.

The other two men in the compartment stopped putting their stuff in their lockers and paused to watch the interaction and to introduce themselves.

Seth Thady, a geologist, had curly blond hair, a close-cropped beard that was barely noticeable it was so blond, and broad shoulders that looked like he normally bench-pressed the rocks he was paid to study.

Carl Thames, at twenty-eight, was a microbiologist with golden brown skin, a strong jaw, and wire-framed glasses that he wore to make himself look smarter, but which actually had the opposite effect; they made people wonder why he was too dumb that he simply hadn't had laser surgery to correct his vision.

Elizabeth couldn't decide which man had the more boring job.

More importantly, they had already claimed their bunks. Seth explained that he liked a top bunk because he liked the head room when he sat up in bed, and Carl explained that he liked the bottom bunk because he tended to sleepwalk.

"You might as well let me have the top one", Jack said to Elizabeth.

"Why's that?"

"Because I'm not so sure you can handle climbing up the ladder. You were a bit nervous on the lift-off. You seem like a delicate type."

"I can handle a ladder just fine."

"Also, you're shorter than me so it makes sense that you take the bottom bunk."

"Not too much shorter", she noted with a smile. Her voice inflection indicating that Jack wasn't the full six feet he liked to believe.

He ignored her slight about his height and kept his duffel bag on the top bunk. He picked up her bag and tossed it onto the bottom bunk.

"I'm the one in law enforcement and I say that whoever has possession gets it. My bag in on top. Yours isn't. Since nothing of yours is on the bunk, you lose."

"For a law enforcement man, you're not so good at your job."

"And you base that on what?"

"Your poor memory."

Jack had to admit he was puzzled by her response. "My memory? What's wrong with my memory?" he challenged.

"If you had a good memory, you'd remember that my books are in that duffel bag. So technically my stuff is still on that top bunk."

 _Drat_! Jack thought. _She's good_.

Seth spoke up as he looked with interest at their conversation. "Why are her things in your bag? You two know each other already? You a couple?"

"No!" Elizabeth and Jack both exclaimed at the same time.

"Sure seems that way", Carl muttered under his breath as he gave a sideways glance to Seth before returning to unpacking.

"I am a lady," Elizabeth began. "And if you are a gentleman, it would make sense that you let me choose first. You are a gentleman, aren't you?"

"I am. Which is why I will not be sexist and let you have the top berth just because you're female. You wouldn't want me to treat you differently merely because of your gender. Would you? Because if you want me to . . say . . _coddle_ you . . . I suppose I -"

"No, of course not", she interrupted.

"I didn't think so."

 _Drat!_ Elizabeth thought. _He's good_.

"We'll do this fairly. Flip a coin. Whoever wins gets the top bunk for the first two months. Loser gets it the second two months", Jack offered pleasantly.

"Fine. But we'll do it every week."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Do _what_ every week?" he asked suggestively. He had to admit that when her ire was up, she had an attractive quality about her. She was still irritating. But darn, she was sexy.

"Switch bunks, you big oaf. That way, we don't get too comfortable with the top and refuse to give it up when it's time to switch. Who has a coin?"

"I keep a lucky half-dollar with me." Jack reached his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out the coin.

* * *

Five minutes later, Elizabeth had finished making up the bottom bunk and unpacked her few belongings into her locker. She was surprised to find that she had three inches of extra space between her mattress and the metal bed frame to put more belongings. When Jack handed her novels down to her, she stored them there.

Now that everything was in place, she sat on her bunk, and looked around. There would be no privacy. Not for four months. Each bunk had a small curtain that could be pulled closed to conceal a sleeping person, but whoever thought it was adequate privacy was kidding themselves.

The four of them assigned to this room shared a bathroom with another set of living quarters. Eight people with only one small shower, one toilet, and one washbasin to share. Which meant she wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. She imagined that she'd be doing most of her dressing and undressing while clumsily sitting on her bed with the curtains drawn.

 _Julie would love this_ , she realized as she thought of her younger sister having to share a room with three men. _Viola would demand that the ship turn around and take her back home,_ she smiled as she thought of her older more prim and proper sister.

"Jack, you coming with us?"

Elizabeth looked up at the voice of one of her roommates. Seth and Carl were already eager to head to the gymnasium/fitness center on Level 2. While it was good, the artificial gravity on the transporter wasn't equal to that on earth, and the difference would have an impact on the passengers' bodies. Gradually making their muscles atrophy and weaken over the next four months if they didn't work out.

Elizabeth didn't mind that she wasn't going; she had gotten in shape to pass her physical exam, but she wasn't much for weightlifting or a treadmill on a regular basis.

"Yeah. I'm coming", Jack said as he jumped down from the top bunk. He gave Elizabeth a big smile. "See you around, roomie."

* * *

Two hours later, Elizabeth had prepared her first hologram to her new students in Coal Valley, found her way to the communication office, and dispatched it. It was just a short introduction but despite the speed of transmission, it would still take six to seven days for the message to reach the far away colony. As the transporter got farther and farther from Earth, transmissions to home would take longer while the time for those to Coal Valley would become shorter.

When the elevator door opened, Elizabeth stepped off on Level 3 and heard Jack's laugh from down the hall.

She berated herself when her pulse quickened at the sounds. Elizabeth unsuccessfully tried to convince herself that it was because he was so irritating. But it wasn't. Her pulse had quickened because she found him so darn attractive. He was leaning against the wall across the hall from their quarters talking to someone.

 _He's not that cute_ , she argued with herself. _Okay, so maybe he is_.

 _He's just so . . . so . . . . aggravating!_

Jack gave her a simple nod as Elizabeth walked by. She pretended not to pay too much attention, but it was impossible not to notice that one of the female flight attendants from earlier was now dressed in yoga pants and a tight-fitting sports bra.

 _They must have met in the Fitness Center._

Elizabeth gave a lazy wave and said "Hi". She buzzed her armband over the door sensor, which immediately slid open as she heard the flight attendant mention something to Jack about a racquetball court.

 _Who cares. He's nothing to me. Just a roommate._

* * *

Five minutes later, the door slid open again and Seth, Carl, and Jack walked into the room. Bringing with them the smell of sweaty men.

"How was the fitness center?" Elizabeth looked up from the small computer on her lap. In the ten-foot by ten-foot room, she couldn't help but smell the men. Or see them.

"Good. They have some nice sets of weights," Seth remarked. He pulled off his shirt revealing muscles, a tattoo of a rock, and the familiar scar on the upper left arm which they now all had. The round scar was the size of a nickel; a remnant from one of their inoculations against the most virulent of possible diseases. Elizabeth looked away when Seth's hands moved to his shorts.

"Just three bikes and three treadmills", Carl added as he too began to strip. "And a rowing machine."

Elizabeth began to blush and tried to turn around but there seemed to be nowhere to look other than to awkwardly twist her body around and face the back wall. She ended up staring straight ahead at her computer screen and wishing that her peripheral vision wasn't so good. Especially when she saw the lighter colored skin of Carl's lower half which was not normally exposed to the sun.

"Guys", Jack said reprovingly.

When the other men looked at him, Jack shook his head slightly and nodded towards Elizabeth.

A naked Carl paused for a moment and then pulled his shorts back up around his waist.

"Sorry."

"Yeah, sorry. The last girl I lived with didn't mind."

Seth quickly grabbed a towel to cover himself and walked into the bathroom.

"It's okay", Elizabeth said, but her pink cheeks let them know she was embarrassed.

Elizabeth learned four things from the incident. The men had no inhibitions. Seth was obsessed with rocks as evidenced by his tattoo. Carl had a birthmark.

And the most important thing that made her heart skip a beat.

Jack was a gentleman.

 **Up next: Chapter 6 - Cafeteria Talk**


	6. Chapter 6 - Cafeteria Talk

**CHAPTER 6 - CAFETERIA TALK**

At dinner that evening, Elizabeth met up with her fellow roommates – now fully dressed, as well as the ones who would be sharing a bathroom with them from the other living quarters. The large group sat at a table in the cafeteria sharing conversation and introductions.

It seemed that most everyone aboard the transporter except for Jack and Elizabeth was some sort of scientist. Elizabeth had always prided herself on her knowledge of science. At age nine, she had built a model solar system complete with a battery-operated international space station orbiting Earth. At age ten, she could recite the periodic table of elements. At age eleven, she did a book report on Madame Curie. But now. . . now she realized that she knew very little about science and to be honest, it was boring.

In between the men's discussions of microbes, anthracite, and oxygen levels, Elizabeth brought up the subject of working out some sort of showering schedule for the one bathroom they would all be using.

"Three minutes is all I need," one of the men remarked.

"Two minutes for me", Carl said.

 _Two minutes?! I certainly hope they don't expect me to be able to shower and wash my hair in two to three minutes_ , she thought in horror.

"I don't need a schedule," a bald man remarked.

"Doesn't matter to me if I'm showering and someone else is in there shaving or using the john."

"Me neither," said Seth.

"I'm not shy. You want to see me, see me. You don't want to see me, wait two minutes and I'll be out of there," another man said good-naturedly before putting a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"I've got a girlfriend back home. There ain't anything I haven't seen before. Up close."

"Some of us may not want to see what y _ou've got_. Up close", Jack replied with a smile.

For the second time since the earlier incident that day with the men undressing in front of her, Elizabeth was secretly grateful that Jack was one of her roommates. Despite their rough start, she had a feeling that he wouldn't hesitate to look after her well-being if she needed it.

"Let's just all agree to knock before we open the door or to keep it locked if we want privacy", Jack instructed in a way that made it seem more like a friendly suggestion. The men from the other room all shrugged but agreed. Carl and Seth, both sensing that Jack was making the suggestion on behalf of Elizabeth, glanced at her and then also readily agreed.

Of the eight people sharing a bathroom, seven of the them were male. Elizabeth wondered why her end of the alphabet had to be so male dominated.

Not wanting to call unnecessary attention to the fact that she was a female and may like some privacy, - _although honestly how can they miss that fac_ t! she thought - Elizabeth dropped the idea of a bathroom schedule. Jack had already made sure that Seth and Carl weren't going to undress in front of her, she couldn't now ask them to hurry up when they were in the bathroom. The transporter's passengers were organized alphabetically like most things in society to avoid any appearance of discrimination or gender preferences. Elizabeth wasn't about to undo what generations of women had strived for - equal treatment and respect. She would just have to learn to live with three men sharing her living quarters and seven men sharing her bathroom.

* * *

That night, as she lay in her berth with the curtain pulled closed and the lights dimmed low, Elizabeth wasn't thinking about shower schedules but about her upcoming school year. She had been wondering how to keep the students involved in their studies over the next four months when she came up with the idea to prepare a hologram each day to send to the students. Although there was currently almost a week-long delay in transmissions, if she sent a message every day, by next week, the students would be getting daily lessons.

Elizabeth decided that her first lesson would be on English literature. She mentally went over classic novels.

Everything was going fine as she closed her eyes and listened to the deep breathing sounds of her roommates who were already asleep.

But then she became sleepier and her mind became muddled. Imagines of strong sexy romantic male characters passed through her mind.

Heathcliff. Gabriel Oak. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

As she drifted off to sleep, those images faded away and instead of a fictional character, a real flesh and blood human image entered her mind. It had stayed with her while she dreamt all through the night.

Jack Thornton.

* * *

 _Jack Thornton! No! No! Why was I dreaming about him?_ Elizabeth asked herself with a scowl as she sat up in bed the next morning, pulled back the curtain, and swung her legs over the side. _He's turned about to be nice but we're just roommates. And he hasn't the shown the slightest interest in me._

Her feet touched the cold floor of the now quiet room. She had waited until she heard the men leave before making a move to get up.

 _This is going to be strange_ , Elizabeth thought. _Really really strang_ e.

For more than two decades, every single day in her entire life – except this one - had begun exactly the same. She has always been on a planet orbiting the sun. Morning had always come. Earth had always rotated around in a circle. She had always been on Earth.

 _Oh, Earth. I miss you,_ she said wistfully _. These artificial lights have nothing on you._

In an effort to replicate earth's twenty-four hour days, and human circadian rhythms – the body's internal clock of cycles of sleepiness and alertness – the transporter had been equipped with lights that mimicked the sun. Making day and night. Sunrise and Sunset.

Elizabeth ran her hand through her messy hair and walked to her locker where she grabbed her toothbrush and then headed for the bathroom. Luckily, it was empty of anyone else.

As she looked around, Elizabeth was reminded why her transporter instructions had told passengers to not pack liquids. Attached to the walls were various dispensers of necessary items. Toothpaste. Shaving cream. Body wash. Shampoo. _Oh thank goodness, conditioner_!

Elizabeth pushed her toothbrush under the appropriately labeled dispenser and watched as exactly a one-half an inch of paste landed on the bristles of her brush.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Elizabeth pushed a plastic tray along the metal counter in front of her as she stood in the cafeteria line.

"Morning, sleepy-head."

"Jack!" she said in surprise as he picked up a tray and got in line next to her.

"Did you get your shower? Nice and private?"

"I did. And thanks for going to bat for me. Yesterday. With the guys undressing", she said gratefully. "And with suggesting they lock and knock."

"No problem. It was for purely selfish reasons."

Elizabeth looked at him questioningly. "Selfish reasons?"

"I don't want you comparing me to those guys. Did you see the muscles on that rock-head Seth? I think his arms are made of boulders", Jack said in disbelief, causing Elizabeth to giggle.

"I thought you would have eaten already. You and the others left the room before I got up."

"I had some work to do," he replied.

"Ahh, that important law enforcement work. Don't tell me there have been crimes on the transporter already", she teased.

"Just an attempted theft of a top bunk bed yesterday, but I handled it."

"And the culprit?" she asked with a smile.

"A school teacher. I think she's learned her lesson", Jack said a tad bit too arrogantly.

Elizabeth would have let the kidding remark pass, but at that moment, a pretty brunette woman walked by. She reached in front of Elizabeth and grabbed a pat of butter from the counter.

"Hi, Jack. Stop by my room later if you're bored," she said in a friendly manner before walking away.

Elizabeth frowned slightly. _Does he flirt with every woman?_

"Hi Jack," a cute red-head called out with a wave as she walked by, causing Elizabeth to scowl.

 _What is he? Like gravity? Women are pulled to him? Well, I am immune to his charms. If he thinks I learned a lesson by him winning the top bunk, he's wrong._

"I have a lesson for you, Officer Thornton. One hundred and twenty minus one", Elizabeth said as she put a small carton of orange juice onto her tray.

Jack gave her a puzzled but humorous look. "One hundred and nineteen. What's the significance?"

"That's how many more days we'll be living together. I suggest you learn very quickly that I'm not some delicate push-over."

"I never said you were a push-over. Just delicate."

"I am not delicate", Elizabeth retorted.

"You're right. You did quite a number on the arm-rests during lift-off. I've never seen anyone clutch them quite so _un-delicately_. Almost ferociously. If I didn't know you so well, I would think you had been terrified. But of course, a not-delicate, not-push-over, beautiful woman such as yourself wouldn't have been scared of a little noise and shaking during lift-off."

"I am also immune to your charms," she said with a self-satisified smile.

"Did they give inoculations for that?" he asked with a grin. "Because if the did, some of the women on this ship must have missed them", he added when an attractive woman walked by and waved at him.

"Poor women," Elizabeth remarked with a sad shake of her head. "I'm sure they'll start to feel nauseous by you soon."

"Nauseated. Not nauseous", he corrected her.

"Excuse me?"

"People _feel nauseated._ They _are_ _nauseous_. It's basic grammar. I'm surprised you didn't know that. You being a teacher and all", he said in a friendly voice.

"Don't tell me my job!"

Jack grinned but didn't respond as they pushed their trays forward.

"Are you trying to tell me that somewhere in that academy of yours, they gave you a class on grammar?" asked Elizabeth, who took it as a personal insult to be corrected on a grammar mistake.

"Nope. My ma was a teacher. A most honorable profession. She taught me a lot."

Elizabeth huffed disagreeably as she pushed her tray forward. She couldn't exactly argue with a comment like that.

"Pancakes, please", she said to the attractive and friendly-looking middle-aged cafeteria worker now standing across from her.

The woman, wearing a name-tag which read "Abigail", handed Elizabeth a plate containing two warm pancakes.

"What can I get for you, Sir?"

"I'll take some eggs."

Elizabeth shook her head in disgust at Jack. Clearly there were no eggs. They weren't listed on the day's menu and they weren't anywhere in sight. _Just like him to think he would get special treatment just because he's cute and in law enforcement,_ she thought with another huff.

"Sorry, sir –"

"Jack. Jack Thornton", he interrupted with a smile.

"Sorry, Jack," Abigail said in in a friendly voice. "No eggs today. We'll have some tomorrow. Any particular kind you were thinking about?"

"Frozen," he replied with an innocent-looking face as he tried to hide a smile.

"Frozen?" Abigail asked in puzzlement and then looked curiously at Elizabeth, who had slammed down her plate at Jack's words.

"I've never heard of serving frozen eggs" , a confused Abigail added.

"I think you coddle them first. Then freeze them. But I'm not exactly sure. Maybe you freeze first and _then_ coddle?" Jack said as he turned to look at Elizabeth, who was glaring at him.

"I think it's a delicacy of some kind. Maybe you know, Elizabeth?" he asked pleasantly.

If looks could kill, Jack would be dead.

And Elizabeth would be serving a life sentence for homicide.

"No problem, Abigail. I'll just take pancakes today", Jack said with a chuckle.

 **Up Next: Chapter 7 The Schedule**


	7. Chapter 7-The Schedule

**Chapter 7 -The schedule of a day**

The days flew by as Elizabeth acclimated to life on the transporter. Without any outside distractions, she soon found herself following a schedule of activities.

Every day began at 0700 with a morning shower. Due to water restrictions, showers were limited to twenty-eight minutes per passenger per week- which Elizabeth learned after fully reading the living quarter's list of rules and instructions. That meant only four minutes per shower if she wanted to take one every day. Which she did.

Luckily, Seth, Carl, and Jack didn't care about long showers. For them, a shower was about getting clean as easily as possible. By the fourth day, they were tired of a frazzled Elizabeth complaining about a lack of time for her conditioner to penetrate her hair and getting nicks as she hurriedly ran a razor along her legs and underarms. All three of her roommates voluntarily donated seven minutes from each of their weekly water-minutes to her. Elizabeth simply had to press their EC numbers into the shower panel and her water usage was taken from their accounts. With the twenty-one extra minutes a week, she felt like she had struck a gold mine.

Breakfast was next on her schedule. Despite her first angry breakfast encounter with Jack, Elizabeth loved meal time. The cafeteria was the social center of the transporter and for good reason. Food. Drink. Round tables perfect for conversation. Not only was Elizabeth still meeting other passengers, but she had become good friends with the transporter's nutritionist, Abigail Stanton.

The rest of her morning time was taken up preparing lessons, and teaching the few students who were on-board. Elizabeth sent a hologram-recording of each lesson to Coal Valley, even if it meant that sometimes she had to teach a lesson twice when she realized that she had been speaking too quietly or had walked out of view of the camera.

Lunch was more socializing. Including with Jack _,_ whose company she was enjoying more and more every day. He was smart, nice, and fun to be around. Even though he wasn't a researcher or expert in anthracite, geology, or farming, Elizabeth noticed that he had quickly gained the respect of the other passengers. And he seemed to like Elizabeth's friendship. He no longer complained about his assignment or asked each day at the communication center if he had a message regarding a possible reassignment back to Earth once the transporter landed.

Although Elizabeth didn't plan it, she and Jack seemed to get to the cafeteria at about the same time as each other for most of their meals. They happily joined in with a table of other passengers eating healthy food which was measured out and proportioned so that each passenger could eat what was required to maintain health, body fat, and body muscle.

After lunch, Elizabeth sent messages home, wrote in her journal, and studied everything she could find about Coal Valley, before then going to the fitness center for an hour.

Although she hadn't been overly interested in fitness on her first day, it had quickly become apparent to Elizabeth that everyone exercised to stay in shape and to relieve boredom and stress. In her case, it was afternoon boredom. But in the case of many of the scientists and engineers, it appeared to be stress. _Who knew planning to maintain a life-sustaining colony could be so stressful!_

After another very quick shower- only using two minutes of water-time! - she was off to dinner

Before Elizabeth knew it, three weeks had gone by.

* * *

Now as she hurried down the hallway, she glanced anxiously at her watch. She should be getting ready for bed. Instead she was wandering the halls looking for one of her students.

"Jack!" she called out when she turned a corner and saw him walking ahead of her. "I need your help."

When Jack stopped and turned around to look at her, Elizabeth couldn't help but think about how glad she was that he was on the transporter with her. Other than some awkwardness when they occasionally were getting ready for bed at the same time, or the time that she had walked in on him when he was changing clothes after his work-out, or the time her bra had fallen on the floor in front of him, living with him was . . nice. Nice was how she would have to describe it. She realized that she had truly grown fond of him in just three weeks. She had once asked him if he had a girlfriend back on Earth; his reply that he had no intention of settling down anytime soon, had - for some reason she couldn't fully understand - made her inwardly frown. It was clear to her that Jack Thornton was not a man looking for a wife, or even a serious relationship. And for a reason she didn't want to admit, that made her sad.

* * *

"What about his parents?" Jack asked after Elizabeth had explained that she had seen one of her students running down a hallway crying.

"I told them but they seemed more concerned about an experiment they were working on."

"Maybe he just needs some alone time."

"I think what he needs is some _not-alone_ time. I get the feeling his parents have been ignoring him since we left Earth. Yesterday in class, he told me about how he didn't want to move to Coal Valley and leave his friends and family back home. I'm worried about him. Where could he be?"

"Elizabeth, we're on a transporter. He can't exactly disappear."

"He's only seven. What if he opens a door and floats out into space?!"

Jack chuckled. "He can't. Everything is secured. And double secured. But I'll help you find him."

"How?" Elizabeth frowned. "Surveying doesn't work here. He took off his messenger bracelet. I tried the intercom system and he didn't respond."

"There are cameras everywhere on this ship. Come with me" Jack said as he took her arm.

* * *

"There he is. Sub-level C. Behind an oxygen tank", Jack said as he pointed to one of the screens. He had taken Elizabeth to the transporter's security office and they were now facing a wall of twenty screens.

Elizabeth looked at the image of the small boy crying as he huddled on the floor. "Thank you, Jack. I'll go get him", she said as she turned to leave the room.

"How about you let me go?"

"No, I'll go. I'm his teacher."

"I'd feel better if I went with you. It can be easy to get lost on that sub-level and there's a lot of equipment and machines. It's tricky to get around."

* * *

"You're a good teacher", Jack said sincerely as they walked the sad little boy back to his room twenty minutes later.

"Thanks but it wasn't really teaching," she said with a smile.

"My ma always said that being a teacher was one part teaching lessons and one part being motherly," Jack remarked when they reached the boy's quarters. "I'll let you handle this," he added with a nod to the student.

"Thanks again", Elizabeth called out as Jack walked down the hallway.

 _He is so nice,_ she wistfully thought once more before quickly turning her attention to her student.

* * *

Two hours later, Elizabeth felt that she had maybe made a difference in her student's predicament.

She had spent more than an hour alone with the boy. Drying his eyes. Hugging him. Helping him make a hologram to his friends back home on Earth and another one to his new soon-to-be friends in Coal Valley.

By the time his parents finally arrived back in their living quarters, Elizabeth had decided she had never met a sweeter boy or a more apathetic set of parents. When they hadn't seemed overly concerned with their teary-eyed run-away son, Elizabeth had used her firmest voice to let them know that she expected better of them.

It was a few minutes past 2300 hours when an exhausted Elizabeth walked down the quiet hallway on her way back to her living quarters.

* * *

When the door slid open, the first thing Elizabeth heard was the snoring sounds of one of her roommates. Due to the sleeping roommate and the late hour, she decided not to bother turning on the room's overhead light as she walked the short distance to her locker. Fumbling in the dark, Elizabeth remembered that it was laundry day. The ship's quartermaster would have taken her clothes to wash after she left them in a bag by the door.

 _I just need a tee-shirt to sleep in. Where do they return them? Oh, our bunks_ , she remembered.

She pulled off her top and slid her jeans down her legs. Sitting on the bottom bunk, she finished taking them off and then took off her bra.

In the dark, she groped around on the bunk's mattress until her fingers found a small pile of laundry and she felt the soft cotton fabric of a tee-shirt. She loved these tee-shirts which had been provided by the transporter. Each one was labeled with its owner's name to prevent a mix-up in the laundry.

 _Darn laundry service. They stretched it_ , she realized as she slipped it over her head. She pulled her hair out from under the neckline and shook it out before pulling the fabric up to her nose and inhaling. _Hmm, I like the detergent they used this time. Smells so good._

Elizabeth was too tired to think more about the tee-shirt smell - which seemed slightly familiar. Or to wonder if her other clothes may have also been stretched out in the wash. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

* * *

It was well past midnight and Elizabeth was dreaming of Jack when the sound of the room's door sliding open and voices in the hallway woke her.

She turned over on her side and heard the soft footsteps of someone walking to the bunk beds and the sound of the door sliding back into place.

Then she heard the sound of someone taking off their shoes. The sound of clothes landing in a heap on the floor.

Elizabeth wondered which one of her roommates was coming in this late.

Suddenly she caught her breath and lay motionless. The curtain around Elizabeth's bed was moving.

Someone was opening _her_ curtain.

"Jack", came the whisper as the person lifted the covers and started to crawl into the bunk, making the mattress sink down as she continued to move closer to Elizabeth's prone body.

"It's me. Ally", the woman's voice spoke again.

Elizabeth immediately reached out in the darkness and pushed the warm body which smelled of floral perfume and beer off the mattress and onto the floor where the woman landed with a bang.

"Get away!" Elizabeth yelled in disgust.

"What the hell?!"

Elizabeth slammed her hand against the round button on the wall above her head and the room was illuminated.

Elizabeth recognized the woman in a bra and panties sitting on the floor and holding her hand against her head where she had bumped it. It was one of the scientists who dealt with hydration and atmospheric pressure. The slightly tipsy woman picked up her discarded dress and scrambled to her feet.

"Where's Jack?"

"How should I know?" Elizabeth asked in bewilderment.

Not content with the answer, Ally pulled back the rest of the curtain as if Jack were hiding somewhere inside. She peered around but then tipsily stumbled and fell onto the bunk.

"Get off of me!" Elizabeth yelled.

"Ouch! You're on my hair!"

"Get your elbow out of my ribs!"

"You broke one of my nails!"

The two women were so busy stumbling to get out of the bunk that they didn't notice that the door had slid open.

Jack walked two steps into the room and stopped in his tracks. Taking in the situation in front of him. _This is odd_ he thought as he shook his head in confusion.

"Why are you two both in my bed?" he finally asked when neither woman had seemed to notice his presence. "Half dressed?" he added in bafflement.

The two women hurriedly crawled out of the bunk and stood clumsily in front of it. Staring at Jack and then glowering at each other.

"Well?"

"She started it. Tell her to go away", the red-haired woman standing in her scanty underwear declared as she pointed to Elizabeth. She heaved heavily, drawing attention to her well-endowed breasts which were being barely covered in a low-cut bra.

"I am not going anywhere!" Elizabeth responded angrily. "I didn't start anything."

"You were in the bed!"

"I was sleeping! That's what beds are for!"

"Honey, they're meant for a whole lot more than that," Ally said snidely.

Jack crinkled his brow in puzzlement. He honestly had no idea what was going on. The last thing he expected to find when he had entered his living quarters after a long day was two partially dressed women tumbling around in bed.

"Should I leave you two alone so you can have some privacy?" he asked humorously.

Both woman glared at him. Elizabeth put her hands on her hips in indignation while the other woman slipped her tiny dress over her own head.

"I came here to see you," the pretty red-haired scientist proclaimed to Jack. She flipped her hair and ran her hand along her dress in an attempt to regain composure.

"Why?"

"You said that you liked my company," she reminded him.

"Ally, I do like your company. In the racquetball court. For a cup of coffee. Not in my berth", Jack replied in a friendly but slightly bewildered tone.

"But you told me about your sleeping arrangements!" she insisted.

"I was just making conversation", Jack said incredulously. "Talking about the tiny living quarters and my roommates. It wasn't meant to be an invitation. And I didn't mean for you to bother Elizabeth."

"Her?" the women, now herself incredulous, asked as she pointed to Elizabeth. "You like her?! You're with her?! The school teacher?!"

Elizabeth fumed. _What's wrong with me?! What's wrong with being a school teacher?! I like being a school teacher._

"Well, no. I'm not with her that way, but –"

Jack paused and gave Elizabeth a curious look.

"What?" she asked in uncertainty. He was looking at her oddly.

"What?!" she asked again.

"Is that _my tee-shirt_ you're wearing?" he asked in a confused voice.

Elizabeth glanced down at her clothing and her eyes got wide in surprise.

"Why are you wearing my tee-shirt to bed?" a bewildered Jack asked. "Why are you wearing my tee-shirt at all?"

"Why you little tart!" Ally said angrily. "You put on his tee-shirt to look sexy and then you crawl into his bed and wait for him!"

"No!" Elizabeth exclaimed defensively. "It was an accident. The laundry. I put it on in the dark," she sputtered. "I thought it was mine."

"It has his name on it!"

"It was dark! I can't see in the dark!"

A puzzled Jack continued to give Elizabeth an odd look. "It's not even clean. I wore it earlier today", he noted.

"It was dark! I thought your smell was a new laundry detergent!"

"I smell like laundry detergent?"

"No. No. You smell nice and you left your smell on your shirt and it smells like your . . . I don't know. . . your aftershave or . . . your sweat", Elizabeth said awkwardly as she tried to comprehend the situation. It didn't help that Jack was still giving her an odd look.

"It was on my berth!" Elizabeth wailed as she pointed to the foot of the bottom bunk.

"That's my berth," Jack replied.

"No, it's _my_ berth." Elizabeth insisted. " _I'm_ on the bottom."

"No, this week you're on the top."

"He's right. It's Jack's bunk. Today's Friday." Seth's sleepy voice entered the conversation as he pulled open the curtain around his bunk.

 _Friday? Friday! We switch bunks on Fridays._ Elizabeth inwardly groaned.

"Perhaps you can pick one of the women and let me get back to sleep, Jack", a tired Seth suggested.

Jack raised his eyebrows and gave the man a look of disbelief. He had no intention of picking one of the women to share his bunk tonight.

 _Although, if I had to choose, I'd obviously pick Elizabeth,_ Jack realized automatically _._

 _But we're not going there. Just friends. That's all we are._

"I am not a tart!" a frazzled Elizabeth suddenly exclaimed as she remembered what Ally had called her.

"Whoever is not a tart, please keep it down, I'm trying to sleep", Carl's tired voice came from behind his curtain.

The women ignored his complaint as they jockeyed for position as the winner of this battle for either dignity or Jack.

"You're in _his_ bed wearing _his_ tee-shirt! Probably smelling in his scent like some love-starved desperate woman!" the hot tempered red-haired woman declared.

"How dare you?! I am not desperate!"

"Oh, please. You look like a prim and proper school teacher. Of course, you're desperate," Ally scoffed.

"This is my room! You're the one who crawled into _my_ bunk uninvited!"

"As if someone would want to crawl into your bed", Ally declared in disgust.

"Now, ladies –" Jack tried to interject but Elizabeth was already firing back at her rival.

"Well you _did_ crawl into my bed. And it _was_ un-invited!"

"I obviously thought it was _his_ bed", Ally declared as she looked at Elizabeth in contempt.

"And it is", Jack readily agreed.

Elizbeth glared at him.

"Well, she's correct. It _is_ my bunk", Jack said defensively and then immediately wished that he had kept his mouth shut when he saw the ire in Elizabeth's eyes.

As the two attractive women stood in front of him, his eyes were drawn to the words printed on the bottom edge of his shirt which was resting on Elizabeth's upper thighs. Barely covering her panties. PROPERTY OF JACK THORNTON. A part of him inwardly groaned with frustrated desire.

Elizabeth turned her glare towards Ally who was slipping into her shoes.

"He doesn't even want you! Except for racquetball and coffee! You weren't invited into our room!"

"How would you know what he wants?!"

"Because he just said so!"

"Ladies" Jack interrupted before the women came to blows. "I think we just have had a long day and a simple misunderstanding."

He turned to Ally. "I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I think you're a very nice person. But I didn't intend to do anything - um - here", he said as he pointed towards the bottom bunk. "Or - um-there with you," he said as he pointed to the top bunk.

* * *

If the room had a door on hinges rather than an automatic sliding one, it would have slammed shut as Ally stormed out of the room.

Elizabeth stood there in shock watching the door slowly glide back into position. She turned to look at Jack in bewilderment.

"I – I -." She had no idea what to say. Somehow in the last five minutes, she had been awoken from her sleep, called a tart, fought over a man, and defended herself from being seen as a desperate woman. All while wearing Jack's tee-shirt that just grazed the tops of her naked thighs.

As her face turned pink in embarrassment, she just wanted to crawl under the covers. Without a word to Jack, she turned and began climbing up the ladder to the top berth.

"Nice undies", Seth declared from his viewpoint on his bunk.

 _Ohh!_ Elizabeth slapped a hand onto her bottom as she realized she had given both Jack and Seth a nice view of her derriere.

Jack turned to Seth. "You, close your curtain and go back to sleep," he ordered before turning to look at Elizabeth.

"You can go into the bathroom and change out of that and . . .um . . .put on something of your own if you want. Your stuff is up there. I put clean sheets up there earlier today", he said as he gestured towards the top bunk. "I'll just go outside for a few minutes and um . . . I'll be back in five minutes. I'm sorry that this happened and that she was rude to you," he added quickly before hurrying from the room.

* * *

Jack walked a few feet down the hallway, leaned against the wall, and then gently banged his head against it over and over again.

 _Damn, she looked fantastic in my tee-shirt. That can't be legal._

 _Definitely shouldn't be legal._

 _It should most definitely be against the law to do that to a guy._

 _If you're going to wear a guy's tee-shirt and look like that and make a guy feel like this . . well that's just not right if you're not going to . . ._

* * *

Elizabeth quickly changed out of Jack's shirt. She neatly folded it and then, while hanging over the edge of her bunk, she dropped it onto his bed.

She pulled her curtain closed and collapsed her head onto her pillow. This had to be one of the worst nights of her life.

Except for one thing.

Jack had said that he wasn't interested in Ally.

And that made Elizabeth smile.

In fact, it totally made up for being called a desperate love-starved prim and proper tart.

If she could add this feeling to her daily schedule, Elizabeth realized that she was going to love being on this transporter.

 **Up next: Chapter 8**


	8. Chapter 8 -The Forest

**CHAPTER 8 – The FOREST**

The next morning at breakfast, Jack was worried about his law enforcement capabilities. Trained to be observant, he prided himself on his attention to detail and recall ability. But for the life of him, he didn't remember what color Ally's bra and panties had been last night despite the fact that she had been standing directly in front of him and he had perfect vision. All he could remember was how Elizabeth had looked in his tee-shirt. And the small freckle she had on her left thigh.

When Seth had remarked about the small bow in the deep cleavage of Ally's dress, Jack had been surprised that he hadn't noticed it himself.

 _How did I miss that?_

 _How do I not remember the color of Ally's bra and panties? Purple. Yes, that's it. They were deep purple. Or was it black?_

 _Elizabeth's were navy blue with a little bit of lace. And when she climbed the ladder and I saw -_

Jack shook his head to clear the image from his mind. He pierced a piece of fruit with his fork and shoved the melon into his mouth.

"There's Elizabeth now", Seth said casually and nodded towards the cafeteria doorway.

Jack choked slightly on the melon and glanced at Elizabeth who had now picked up a tray and was moving down the food line. He found himself wondering what color panties she was wearing today.

* * *

"Good morning, Elizabeth. I heard you had quite an eventful evening," Abigail remarked as she handed a muffin to Elizabeth. "Blueberry. Your favorite."

Elizabeth's cheeks turned pink. "What did you hear?"

"That you and Jack had a visitor." Abigail smiled and handed Elizabeth a cup of fruit.

"I can't believe that Jack told you" Elizabeth said in disappointment.

"He didn't. He's got more class than that. It was Ally who spread the word. She got back to her room pretty upset and a little inebriated last night. She told her roommates what happened and word has spread pretty quickly this morning. It's a small transporter. Although I'm not sure how much is true. I suspect that maybe she embellished it a bit."

Elizabeth frowned and looked around the room before returning her attention to Abigail across the counter. "What did you hear?" she whispered.

Abigail chuckled. "That you threw yourself at Jack while dressed in his tee-shirt and waiting for him in his bed. Ready to pounce on him. And that you assaulted Ally."

"Assaulted her?!"

"She wants to press charges against you. She's got a bit of a bump on the head," Abigail said with shrug. "I wouldn't worry about it. Jack doesn't seem too interested in filing the paperwork."

"Charges? She crawled into my berth!"

Abigail couldn't stop grinning. "I believe it was _Jack's_ berth."

* * *

 _I can't avoid this forever. I may as well get it over with_ , Elizabeth thought as she stood in the Cafeteria with her tray and looked around the large room. She normally ate at the same table as Jack and realized it would look odd if she didn't. She wasn't about to let Ally and her rumors alter her daily routine. Besides, she liked eating with Jack and her roommates and other friends.

"Morning, guys."

"Morning", Jack said as Elizabeth sat down at the table a few seats away.

"You look pretty good", Bud said as he looked at her appraisingly. "I thought you might have a few bruises after your bed tumble last night."

Elizabeth ignored the smattering of snickering that Bud's comment brought out in the other diners.

"Do you want me to move so you can sit next to Jack?" Victoria, a nurse from the infirmary, asked and then sniffed the air in an exaggerated manner. "He doesn't smell sweaty or like laundry detergent but you may be attracted to him anyway."

There were more chuckles from the table, which Elizabeth tried to ignore as she concentrated on the muffin on her plate.

"Be serious everyone. Stop teasing her", Seth said earnestly. "I have an important question for her", he continued as focused on Elizabeth with a look of worry.

The table became quite as they waited for Seth to voice his concern.

"Elizabeth, I'm a little worried about the state of our students in Coal Valley," he said as he tried now to suppress a laugh. "How do you expect to teach them when you can't even read a simple name on a tee-shirt? Do you even know the alphabet?"

The diners erupted into laughter.

"Guys, come on. Give her a break", Jack suggested with a grin. "It's not her fault that I'm so tempting."

"Ha ha. Very funny," Elizabeth replied. "Get your laughs now."

"So, is that the last time you'll ever be wearing one of Jack's tee-shirts?" a slender engineer asked with a not-so-innocent smile as she paused while eating her yogurt.

Jack choked on his cup of coffee and wiped the liquid from his face while Elizabeth's cheeks turned pink causing all the occupants at the table to knowingly look at each other and smile. It was no secret that Jack and Elizabeth seemed to enjoy each other's company.

* * *

Within a few minutes, Elizabeth found herself alone at the table with Jack as the other diners had already been finishing up their meals when she had sat down.

With just the two of them, the situation suddenly felt even more awkward. At least while the others had been there, she didn't have to look Jack in the eye. She had been able to pretend that last night had been one big funny misunderstanding.

But now. Now it was just her and Jack. Sitting silently at the table.

Elizabeth kept her head down and concentrated on her spoon of oatmeal as if she were the world's most interesting object.

'So, anything new happening with you?" Jack finally asked as he tried to be casual and lighten the strained mood.

Elizabeth couldn't help but giggle at his attempt to be nonchalant. "Not since last night."

"Last night. Last night." He paused as if trying to remember the prior evening. "You must mean when you were searching for your runaway student. Or do you mean the bean soup that was on the dinner menu?" he said as he tried to hide a smile.

"You know perfectly well that's not what I mean", she replied with her own smile.

"It was a most interesting situation."

Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief. "Never in all my life would I have expected that to have happened when I was planning for this trip."

Jack chuckled. "I have to admit I hadn't exactly envisioned seeing two scantily clad women in my berth fighting with each other. Although, now that I think about it again, it wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe we could have repeat tonight."

Elizabeth smacked Jack with her napkin and then her face grew worried. "Does she really want to file charges against me?"

"Don't worry about it." Jack took a final sip of coffee and set his mug back on the table. 'I'll handle her."

"If anyone should press charges. It should be me. She bothered me. I'm the victim here."

"The victim?" Jack scoffed. "You're not a victim."

Jack stood up from the table and picked up his tray with his empty plate and mug as Elizabeth looked at him in surprise.

"Yes, I am! I was a victim!"

"You?"

"Yes", she answered firmly.

"A victim?" he asked with a jeer.

"Yes! Me a victim!"

Jack chuckled. "The only things you're a victim of are my good looks and irresistible magnetism."

Before she could think of a retort, Jack had already winked at her and walked away. Leaving Elizabeth to realize that Jack was right. She wasn't a victim of Ally. She could handle the red-haired woman just fine.

Elizabeth bowed her head and held it in her hands when she realized the irrefutable.

She was a willing victim.

Elizabeth Thatcher, Earth Citizen number EK 0951984, had become a casualty of Jack Thornton's charm.

* * *

After two days, the teasing had finally stopped. Elizabeth had also decided to fortify her heart against Jack. While sharing afternoon croissants and cups of tea, Elizabeth and Abigail had discussed the idea of romance on a transporter.

Abigail set her cup of tea down on the table and gave a shrug. "It happens. People stuck on a transporter for months often hook up with each other. Close quarters. Nowhere to go. It's like summer camp. And then, they get to their destination and reality sets in and they realize their little romance was a mistake. I'm not saying that would happen to you and Jack, but I understand your concern. I've seen my share of these short-lived affairs. And from what's you've said, Jack had no interest in starting a serious relationship when he arrived on this transporter."

"Neither did I. Neither _do_ I", Elizabeth clarified. "We're just friends and roommates."

"But?"

Elizabeth's shoulders slumped in defeat. "He's just so adorable."

"That he is", Abigail agreed with a smile.

* * *

After Abigail went back to work, Elizabeth sat at the otherwise empty cafeteria and lazily stirred her cup of tea. She looked around the room and sighed. The scientists were busy with their experiments or reading abstracts and studies. The crew members were in the control center or at their assigned duties or – those working the night shift- were now sleeping. Even Jack was busy working on some investigation; he had brushed it off as unimportant when she found him studying computer images and diagrams, but she suspected it was something actually quite important by the way he had been concentrating when she walked in on him.

Everyone was busy but her.

Elizabeth realized that a malaise had set in. The transporter doctor had warned her that this may happen. Days of being confined to a ship had been known to cause a person to feel discontent. Uneasy. Restless. Melancholy. In fact, it was expected that at some point, most passengers would feel it.

At the time of her two-week periodic check-up, Elizabeth had laughed off the doctor's warning. But this morning, she had woken up and stared at the ceiling with no hurry to get out of her berth. Why bother. Every day was the same schedule.

This morning, she had given her lecture three times before she had managed to get the sound and lighting adequate enough to send the recording to Coal Valley. Twice the power had flickered and erased the hologram.

After lessons- which didn't take long when there were only three students- she had sent a hologram message to her family but soon became discouraged when she realized that by the time they received it and then she received their response, she probably wouldn't even remember what she had said in the first place. Two weeks would have passed.

At lunch, she had eaten a piece of chocolate to help with her mood, and then had stolen Jack's piece from his tray when he wasn't looking. It still wasn't enough to lift her spirits.

She had gone to the gym to use the treadmills, but there had been another power outage and she didn't feel like starting her three-mile run again. Even though she had only been a quarter mile into it when the machine had stopped working.

Now Elizabeth took her dishes to the front of the cafeteria and added them to the pile of dirty ones, before heading towards her living quarters. She looked at the long boring hallways that ran throughout the ship. She was tired of them. She was tired of all of it. The boring rooms with their sterility. The boring uniformity of everything. Even looking out a window from the control center or one of the few other areas which provided a view outside the transporter didn't help; it was just blackness speckled every so often with a twinkling star.

She didn't know how she'd be able to handle three more months of the monotony.

 _So, this is what cabin fever is all about._

She realized it wasn't just cabin fever it was something more. It was _sameness._ The sameness of man-made functional items.

The ship's doctor had told her that there was no magic pill for cabin-fever but that when she found the thing that made her smile again, she should hold onto to it and try not to let it go.

 _Hold onto it? How the heck can I hold happiness_? she thought with a disgruntled frown.

* * *

The sound of the shower through the bathroom door which was ajar greeted Elizabeth when she walked into her living quarters.

She recognized Jack's shoes on the floor and rightly assumed that he was the person in the shower.

Elizabeth kicked off her own shoes and looked around the simple living quarters. Four boring berths. Four boring lockers.

She noticed the open sketchpad on Jack's berth and picked it up. _He's likes old-fashioned things. Just like I like real books made of paper, he likes drawing with pencils and paper rather than a computer art program._

Elizabeth stared at Jack's drawing with its shades of green and brown and felt herself become teary-eyed. She knew she was being overly sentimental but she couldn't help it.

"You like it?"

Elizabeth wiped away a tear and turned to look at Jack as he moved towards her. He had put on his pants in the bathroom but a few drops of water from the shower remained on his bare torso. He reached past Elizabeth and grabbed a shirt from his locker.

"Well? Do you like it?" he asked with a smile after pulling the tee-shirt over his head and running a hand through his messy hair.

Elizabeth nodded. "I do."

"Then why do you look so sad?" he chuckled.

"I miss it," she admitted sadly with a shrug.

"It?"

"Earth. I miss Earth."

She looked at the color-pencil drawing in her hand. "I just didn't realize what it would be like. So far from home. I was so caught up in the excitement of an adventure that I glossed over what I would be leaving behind."

"I know how you feel. That's why I sit and stare at the trees. Usually every night before I got to bed. It reminds me of the forests in Canada."

"I miss forests," Elizabeth said wistfully. She set down the drawing back on Jack's berth. She gave a little chuckle and tried to lift her own spirits. "But your drawing's not very realistic."

"What are you talking about? It's totally realistic", he argued.

"Jack, you've got pine trees next to apple trees next to maple trees next to a palm tree! I know I've been gone from Earth for a month, but I remember that trees don't grow that way. You're very good at drawing but the trees don't go together."

"They do here."

Elizabeth laughed. "Fine. In your drawing, they grow that way."

"I'm serious. That's how they grow."

"Okay. It's your drawing. But I still wish that they were real."

"They are."

"I mean here on the ship", she explained. "Not just in your memory. And not just in your sketch. I wish I could see real trees whenever I wanted."

"You can."

"Jack, I don't mean in a picture. Just forget about it." A disappointed Elizabeth flopped down on the bottom bunk.

"You can see it for real. That's what I'm trying to tell you. But for a teacher you seem to be used to talking and not listening," Jack said with a chuckle.

"Don't tease me. I don't want to see a hologram of a tree or a video of a tree. I want to smell nature. I want to feel leaves and pine needles. I want to see a real live tree."

"That's what I meant. They are real", Jack declared as he sat on the lower berth and put on his shoes.

"What are you talking about?"

"They. Are. Real", he said deliberately. "Come with me", Jack instructed as he stood up and took her hand.

* * *

"Oh, Jack, they're beautiful", Elizabeth said in awe.

Jack had held her hand as he led her to the elevator, and then held it again as he led her down a hallway and to a stairwell, and then once again as they passed through another hallway. By the time, they came to the Sub-level B door marked "Propagation/Horticulture Nursery ", Elizabeth wasn't sure if Jack was taking her on a wild goose chase or if he really was going to show her a live tree. But she didn't care at that point. He had held her hand. Three times! And it felt wonderful.

But then the door had slid open and she was so amazed that she had dropped his hand in surprise as she walked into the room.

They were standing among sixty small trees destined to be planted in Coal Valley. Each species with a unique purpose.

"How did you know about this place? I can't believe I didn't know!"

"I know every inch of this ship. At least I should. I can scan it on the cameras from the security office, but I like to walk it instead. I come here almost every evening. Just to see them in person. And remind myself of Earth."

"Those are pine trees next to apple trees next to maple trees next to palm trees!" Elizabeth exclaimed with a laugh. "You drew them just like you saw them!"

"The pine trees are tough and can tolerate heat, drought, cold, and a wide range of soil conditions", Jack explained as they moved through the trees. "They're good for erosion control and the pine needles will help provide nutrients to the soil. The apple trees – well that's obvious – they'll provide apples one day. And the maple trees are my favorite. Canada all the way," he said with a grin.

"And the palm trees?"

"Coconuts. They're not sure which tree will grow best on the planet but with the bio-dome, they can try different things. Hopefully get them all to grow in different areas. With the right conditions."

"And over here is a special surprise." Jack motioned Elizabeth to stand in front of him. He gently pulled down a small branch of a nearby tree to reveal a bird sitting silently.

"She's not supposed to be here. She flew in from the aviary next door and made herself a home here so they're letting her stay", he said quietly as Elizabeth stood against him. His warm breath tickled the back of her neck. Elizabeth suddenly wished that Jack would kiss her. _He smells delicious. And he's so manly._

Jack moved over to another tree and took hold of a branch. "Smell this," he instructed.

Elizabeth walked the few steps to him, closed her eyes, and inhaled the scent of the leaves in front of her. "Eucalyptus!" she exclaimed in delight. "From Australia!"

"Yep. They're great for drying up wet areas. Like Area 740."

Elizabeth frowned slightly. "Where they had the accident?"

"Yeah. Whatever the scientists did there apparently made a colossal mess. It's been raining almost every day for five months."

"That's how Abigail Stanton lost her husband. In the explosion. She said her husband was worried about the safety of splitting the particles of silver iodide and mixing them with the supercooled water. Or something like that. I have to admit that I didn't understand a lot of it. But I feel so terrible for her. That explosion must have been awful."

"It killed a lot of men and women. And now they can't get it to stop raining. Whatever they did, they created an ecological nightmare in the biodome. All these trees are our attempt to create an Earth-like home for us. That's the thing about humans. We love what we know. No matter how advanced we are, we still need the basics. Like simple nature."

"I do love it." Elizabeth said as she looked around. "I can't wait until we can have maple syrup and make apple pies and have eucalyptus sachets and – oh Jack – we'll have a tree for Christmas! A real tree!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Jack laughed. "It will be quite a while until we have maple syrup and apples for pie, but I think the sachets are do-able. And I promise to help you decorate a tree for Christmas."

Elizabeth's face broke out into a large grin.

When she thought about it for a moment, she realized that it wasn't the idea of Christmas or being surrounded by trees that was making her so happy and breaking her out of her earlier discontent. And it wasn't sachets. Or even the idea of maple syrup. All those things were nice. But not enough.

It was much more than all that. And at the same time, it was much more simple.

She had been holding hands with her happiness. He was standing right next to her.

She knew that if Jack kissed her right now, she would eagerly return it. _I might even make the first move_ , she thought happily as she looked out of the corner of her eye at his handsome face. He was lifting up a branch of white pine for her so she could feel the soft needles. His arm brushed against hers and she paused. He paused. They stood next to each other. Their arms touching.

Elizabeth held her breath. Waiting. It was the perfect place. The perfect moment. For a kiss.

* * *

"Jacques, you are early tonight", the female voice with a European accent called out.

Elizabeth, who was about to close her eyes in anticipation - even though Jack had not made any move to kiss her, looked toward the petite brunette woman who was walking across the room as the door slid closed behind her. _Who the heck is she?! She's interrupted my first kiss with him!_

"Usually you do not get 'ere 'til later", the woman said in a friendly manner. She was clearly familiar with Jack's nightly visits. "Who ees your friend?"

"This is Elizabeth. One of my roommates. She's going to be Coal Valley's school teacher. Elizabeth, this is Lori. This is her nursery", Jack said with a smile as Lori reached out her hand to shake Elizabeth's.

Elizabeth felt a slight irrational jealously go through her. _He said he comes here every night to see the trees. I bet he comes to see her too._

"Welcome, Elizabeth."

The woman continued talking but Elizabeth didn't pay much attention. Not only did the woman's accent make it a bit hard to understand but Elizabeth found herself involuntarily assessing the other woman.

 _The laundry must have shrunk her tee-shirt_ , Elizabeth thought with a frown as she noticed how the woman's size 38-inch bust was filling out her tee-shirt into nice full curves. _I don't look like that in mine._

 _And how does she get her waist so small?_ Elizabeth wondered as the attractive woman continued to converse with Jack. _I wonder if Jack finds her curls sexy. They're like perfect chestnut-colored ringlets!_

"I want to have sex," the woman declared causing Elizabeth to jerk herself back to attention.

 _What?!_

Lori grabbed Jack's arm and pointed towards an area in the back of the room where three small potted plants were standing. "I em a whore to culture. I should have sex. Do you not think so?"

When Jack just nodded in agreement, Lori turned towards Elizabeth. "Eeelizabeth, you must agree. Females need males. No?"

 _What?! Does she want to have sex with him right over there by those trees?! What kind of immoral people does Jack hang out with?!_

A gob-smacked Elizabeth stood there while Lori continued to hold Jack by the arm and talk animatedly. "What good ees a female without a male? Eet ees no good!"

When Elizabeth heard a friendly Jack tell Lori that she could obviously teach him thing or two, Elizabeth turned on her heels and began to storm out of the room. She would have made it to the hallway without Jack even noticing, if she hadn't bumped into a man carrying a tray of seedlings who was entering at the same time.

"Watch your step, Missy."

"Sorry," a flustered Elizabeth apologized as she knocked over the tray and spewed its contents onto the floor. "I was just leaving." She bent down and began picking up the plants. Damaging the thin stems and tossing about small bits of dirt as she clumsily tried to help.

"Oh, no! My plants", Lori exclaimed as she hurried over and began to pick up the tiny plants. Several of which now had broken stems.

* * *

Two minutes later, a nice but obviously upset Lori had assured Elizabeth that everything was fine as she eagerly ushered her and Jack out of her nursery before Elizabeth could cause more damage.

Elizabeth stomped down the hallway forcing Jack to keep pace with her.

"Is everything okay? You seem kind of upset. Lori said it was okay that you ruined the plants. She's a real sweetheart."

"I bet she is", Elizabeth said angrily. "With that thick seductive accent of hers."

Jack was perplexed. "I think everyone in her country sounds that way. It's just the way they talk."

"And her sexy clothing?!"

Jack frowned in puzzlement. "She's wearing the exact same top as you."

"Well it looks different on her!"

"I have no idea why you're mad at me. I'm not responsible for her country of origin or her attire."

"She has absolutely no decency!" Elizabeth fumed when they entered the elevator.

"What are you talking about?" a bewildered Jack asked.

"That stuff she was saying!"

"What stuff?"

"You know what stuff!" Elizabeth refused to look at Jack and watched the digital lights as they showed the floor levels changing. _How can he not know why I'm upset? Men are such pigs!_

 _"_ You could have just agreed with her", Jack offered pleasantly.

"Agreed with her?!" Elizabeth stared at Jack in horror. _Agreed with her that she should have sex in the plant nursery?! With Jack?!_

"Just to be polite," he suggested. "It would have been the nice thing to do."

Elizabeth crossed her arms and fumed. "I am not that kind of girl."

"Not a nice girl?"

"Of course, I'm a nice girl! That's the problem. I am a NICE girl and I didn't like what she was discussing!"

Jack put his hand on the "stop" button and the elevator came to standstill. He looked curiously at Elizabeth.

"I have no idea why you're upset. I don't see what difference it makes to you if she wants another three plants. I agree. It makes sense to have six."

"Six?" Elizabeth said hesitantly. _Six? Not sex?_ O _h God! What did I misunderstand?_ "Six plants?"

"Well, yeah. I mean if she has those three female trees that she was showing us in the corner, they can't be pollinated without males. It's not her fault that the shipment was messed up. What good are three female trees going to be if they don't have male trees? We'll never get fruit from them."

Elizabeth's face felt flushed. _Trees. She was talking about trees._

"She loves her job. That's why she was so emotional about it. She's a horticulturist. They get that way around plants."

"A horticulturist?"

"Yeah. She told you that. Weren't you paying attention?"

 _I thought she said she was a whore to culture! Whatever that meant. I just thought she was a whore!_

 _"_ Her husband – the guy you bumped into – is a horticulturist too. Well, he's more arborist."

"Um hum," Elizabeth said meekly. "He . . um . . seemed friendly too."

"He is. They're a nice couple. "

Jack began chuckling as he pulled out the stop button and the elevator began moving again. "I think I have an idea of why your mood suddenly changed when Lori walked in."

"Why?" Elizabeth asked with a shrug which she hoped looked indifferent.

"You thought that there was something going on between her and me."

"Don't be silly. I thought no such thing. And I wouldn't even care."

"If you say so, my little lemon meringue", Jack replied with a grin.

* * *

Jack sat in his office completing the evening log books.

He and Elizabeth had parted ways when the elevator door had opened but he couldn't stop thinking about her. He smiled at how she had become jealous in the plant nursery. He realized that he almost always smiled when he thought about her. He loved teasing her; making her eyes light up with passion. The way she didn't even realize how sexy she was when she was fired up in anger and trying to remain a lady. _She's so darn adorable._

He shook his head to clear her face from his mind. _I am not going to get involved with someone. Not with her. Especially when I plan to return to Earth as soon as I get reassigned._

* * *

Elizabeth sat on the edge of her berth thinking of Jack. _I totally misread that entire situation_. _He really is a gentleman._

 _My little lemon meringue. Why did he call me that? And yesterday morning, he called me apple. And at bedtime last night, he said 'goodnight pumpkin". He's so sweet. I guess he just likes having words of affection for me. Because we've become close friends. That's nice._

Five minutes later, Elizabeth was brushing her teeth when she suddenly spit out a mouthful of paste and her face tightened in anger.

 _Lemon meringue! Apple! Pumpkin! They're all tarts!_

 **Up next: Chapter 9**

 **Dear Readers: Thank you for all your reviews and messages. I really enjoy reading your thoughts, and getting ideas from you. The conversation between Jack and Elizabeth with her claiming she was a victim was inspired by a reviewer's comment. 😊**


	9. Chapter 9 - Logic

**CHAPTER 9 – Logic**

"Jack, can I have another minute of your water?" Elizabeth asked three days later as she looked up from her berth and saw Jack coming out of the bathroom fresh from a quick shower after his work-out in the fitness center.

"Sure, but I want something in exchange."

"What'd you have in mind?"

"Join me for dinner?"

Elizabeth grinned. "I join you for dinner every day," she reminded him.

"Well, that works out nicely for you, doesn't it?" He smiled as he put on his shoes and Elizabeth jumped down from her berth. "And you can tell me more about the talk you want me to give to your students. I've got time to do the hologram tomorrow."

Despite all their teasing, Jack and Elizabeth had fallen into a familiar pattern during their weeks on the transporter. When they wanted to share good news, they sought out each other. When they wanted to bounce an idea or problem off someone, they sought out each other. When they returned to their living quarters, they were always happy to see the other one there. They joked with each other. They taunted each other. They enjoyed each other's company.

For lack of a better description, they had become best friends.

And every so often, when they walked down a hallway, Jack would take Elizabeth's hand and hold it in a friendly manner. Once when he pushed a loose tendril of hair out of her face, he paused for a moment. He so badly wanted to reach over and kiss her, but she was busy excitedly telling him a story of something that had happened to her that she didn't even seem to notice. And so, he hadn't kissed her. Just like he hadn't kissed her when they bumped into each other in the narrow space between their berths while getting ready for bed. And he hadn't kissed her when he leaned in close to her and captured a spider that had escaped from the Entomology room.

All the times he wanted to kiss her, but he didn't.

He had a feeling that if he kissed her, he might be lost to her forever. And he wasn't ready for that. Jack decided that it simply wasn't logical to get involved with her.

Elizabeth realized that Jack had made his decision. They would be friends and roommates. Nothing more.

* * *

"That dinner was really good, Abigail," Elizabeth complimented her friend. They were in the transporter's large sterile kitchen. A glass case ran along one wall holding shelves filled with hundreds of boxes of food and drink items.

"Take a bite of this and tell me how it tastes", Abigail instructed as she handed Elizabeth a small cherry tomato. "I think they're better than the boxed ones but I'm not sure if all this hydroponics is worth it. Lori's been growing them. She's trying these with no soil. Only water and nutrients."

Elizabeth took a bite of the tomato. "Hmm. Delicious. Let her keep growing them."

"She mentioned that Jack visits the nursery quite a lot and the other night, he brought you."

"He did. I needed a pick-me-up and it did the trick."

" _It_ did the trick or _Jack_ did the trick?" Abigail asked with a knowing grin.

"We're just friends," Elizabeth explained. "But yes, he did the trick," she added with a giggle.

"Any movement on his part?"

"We held hands."

"Held hands? What is this? The third grade?", Abigail scoffed.

"Stop! Don't tease. We're really just close friends. Jack's made it perfectly clear that he's not interested in a serious relationship at this point in his life. Not with his job. And I'm not interested in a short-term fling."

"Not even with Jack?" Abigail smiled and said suggestively. "Because quite a few women wouldn't mind."

"Not even with Jack", Elizabeth said firmly.

"Has he asked? For a fling with you?"

"No", Elizabeth said with a disgruntled huff.

* * *

When Elizabeth got back to their living quarters, she moved aside some clothes on Jack's bunk and sat down to take off her shoes.

 _What's this?_ She picked up Jack's sketchpad. Instead of a drawing, the page was covered in handwritten words. She smiled at the thought that Jack liked using old-fashioned writing utensils rather than a keyboard and computer.

Elizabeth adjusted herself so she was sitting comfortably on his bed, propped up a pillow behind her back, pushed a curl out of her face, and began reading.

 **You fill up my senses** **  
** **Like a night in a forest**

 _This must be some kind of journal he's starting. Or just him scribbling down his thoughts._

 _We spent a night in a forest,_ Elizabeth suddenly realized _. Sort of. If you count a few minutes one evening in a plant nursery._

She shrugged her shoulders at the coincidence and began reading again.

 **You fill up my senses** **  
** **Like a night in a forest**

 **Like the mountains in springtime** **  
** **Like a walk in the rain** **  
** **Like a storm in the desert** **  
** **Like a sleepy blue ocean** **  
** **You fill up my senses** **  
**

 _He certainly likes using similes to make comparisons. But still, it's quite imaginative. I like it._

 _It's got to be about me!_ she realized with a sudden quickening of her pulse. _We have been spending a lot of time together. It must be about me. He's so romantic! He wants a relationship with me!_

 _I fill up his senses,_ Elizabeth thought giddily.

 _I'm like a walk in the rain – refreshing!_

 _Hmm. That storm in the desert must refer to when we first met and had all those spats._

 _I'm not sure what the rest means, but I've obviously affected him!_

 _Ooh, maybe the sleepy blue ocean refers to my eyes. Sleepy blue ocean. How absolutely lovely! I've got sleepy blue ocean eyes!_

Elizabeth's face broke out in a grin as she thought about Jack's feelings for her.

 _But why hasn't he kissed me yet? I thought he wasn't interested, but he must be! He's just been shy!_

With smile still on her face, she eagerly turned to the next page and began reading the words.

 **Come, let me love you** **  
** **Let me give my life to you**

 _Oh my, he's quite emotional! Could our hand-holding really affect him that way? He wants to give his life to me? That's so . . .so . . . passionate! It's so chivalrous!_

 **Let me drown in your laughter** **  
** **Let me die in your arms**

 _Die in my arms?! That's really getting a bit overboard at this stage. And morbid._ Elizabeth frowned slightly at Jack's obvious intensity of his feelings for her, but then she continued to read.

 **Let me lay down beside you** **  
** **Let me always be with you**

 _Lay down beside me? I'm assuming he means in a sexual way. It's too soon. I mean, obviously I've thought about it. How could I not? Especially when he's not wearing a shirt and I see all those muscles. Hmm. He's delicious looking._

Elizabeth shook her head. _But it's still too soon. We haven't even kissed._

Elizabeth re-read the last line again _._

 **Let me always be with you**

 _Always be with me?_ Elizabeth frowned again _. That's a tad bit possessive. We're already together hours every day. I do have to teach. And he has his work. He can't ALWAYS be with me._

 _Let me, let me, let me, let me – he certainly likes to ask permission. Doesn't he know that sometimes a girl just wants a guy to take charge?_

 _And he's really into repetition._

 **Come, let me love you** **  
** **Come love me again**

 _Oh my, he certainly fell quickly for me._

Elizabeth set down the sketch pad and sighed. _This is a bit too much_.

She wondered if Jack planned to send his thoughts to her in a letter or to say them aloud. _Please, don't say them aloud to me. It's too much._

 _Hmm, maybe he's one of those mentally unstable guys that becomes obsessed with a woman and ends up stalking her. Oh, gosh, I hope not! He wouldn't have far to go to stalk me, we live together!_

 _He seemed so nice and normal!_ she thought anxiously and with a frown. _Now I'm either going to have to talk to him about his obsession with me or avoid him. Which will be hard to do on this ship!_

 _Wait a minute. Come love me again? AGAIN? I haven't loved him in the first place! Who is he writing about?!_

Elizabeth looked at the paper in her hands again and noticed the writing at the bottom of the page.

"Annie's Song", she said aloud.

"Who the heck is Annie?!"

"His ex-wife," Seth answered her question as he entered from the bathroom. Elizabeth looked up in surprise.

"Jack has an ex-wife?!"

"No, stupid. The composer of that song has an ex-wife. It's about her."

Elizbeth looked up at her roommate and motioned with her hand to his face. Seth wiped the remaining shaving cream from his jaw and nodded towards the sketchpad in her hands.

"Jack said it's one of his favorite songs. By some guy from West Virginia, or Colorado, or something like that. John Denver. It's pretty old," Seth added.

 _The song wasn't about me,_ Elizabeth realized with a disappointed sigh, quickly forgetting that just moments before she had found it too overbearing. _He didn't write it about me._ _Darn. I had my hopes up there for a minute._

"Jack's trying to remember all the words for the talent show. He's going to sing it with a guitar."

"Where in the world did he get a guitar on the transporter?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"He's your boyfriend," Seth said with a shrug. "You ask him."

"He's not my boyfriend." Elizabeth said dismissively.

"Not yet." Seth moved over to his locker and took out some small rocks which he began juggling. "And why exactly is that?" he asked curiously.

Elizabeth ignored the question, and nodded to the rocks he was tossing into the air. "Is that what you're doing for the talent show?"

"Can't decide yet. That reminds me, Wayne stopped by looking for you."

"Oh, okay, Thanks," Elizabeth replied as she climbed out of Jack's berth and glanced at her watch. "I promised to meet him."

"What's your talent with him?"

"It's a surprise."

* * *

"This is a nice surprise", Jack said as he picked up an empty tray and passed Elizabeth who was just leaving the cafeteria line the next afternoon. "I was worried I'd be forced to eat lunch with some of the boring rocket scientists that eat in the table in the corner."

"Some of those boring rocket scientists already invited me to join them," Elizabeth said with a smile.

"You're kidding?"

"Nope." Elizabeth smiled. "I'm surprised to see you here. Our stomachs must be on the same schedule. We're both later than usual today."

"I guess so. I was catching up on some work and before I knew it, it was past one o'clock."

"See you at the table. I'll save you a seat" Elizabeth replied before moving away and heading across the room.

* * *

"Elizabeth may be clueless, but I'm not." Abigail remarked as she handed Jack a plate of fried chicken.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

Abigail smiled at Jack and handed him an apple. "I know that you are in the security office a couple times a day. And I know that from that room you can see every corridor on this ship."

"So?"

"So if someone is in the security office and happens to see – oh let's say – Elizabeth on her way to the Cafeteria, that person – if for some reason he wanted to eat a meal with Elizabeth because that person enjoyed her company but didn't want to admit it – he could leave the office and time it so that he happened to arrive at the Cafeteria at approximately the same time as her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jack said with an innocent expression.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. But Jack, I will tell you that quite a few gentlemen on-board this ship have noticed her. She's a very nice girl. You might want to keep that in mind when you're taking your time."

* * *

Jack sat at the table across from Elizabeth who was sitting between two men, and listened to the conversation going on around him. When he noticed that Elizabeth seemed just as bored as him with the discussion of astro-physics, he gave her a sly wink and a smile.

Elizabeth bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling. "I'm going to get another carton of milk. Anyone want anything?" she asked as she stood up from the table.

"I'll take anything with caffeine to wake me up" Jack said with a straight-faced which earned him another smile and a humorous shake of the head from Elizabeth.

As she walked out of hearing distance, a man in his late twenties set down his fork and gave Elizabeth an appraising look before turning back to the rest of the table.

"I wonder if she's any good in bed."

While Jack scowled slightly at the remark, the other six men at the table swiveled their heads to get another look at Elizabeth.

"We can do an algorithm," a man with wavy hair suggested. "First, we figure out how old she was the first time she had sex. Then we find out the average number of partners per year for her social status and geographic area. Then we multiple her years of sexual activity with the average number of partners a woman has per year. We compare that to data on the sexual prowess of women who are attractive but not overly sexy-looking. That should give us a good idea if she's any good", Paul remarked.

"What about variables such as long-term relationships and religious hang-ups? You can't forget about them," someone added.

Jack was the only man at the table who didn't nod in agreement. His lunch companions, who were busy methodically evaluating the sexual skills of an attractive but not overly sexy-looking Elizabeth, didn't notice the look of disgust he gave them.

"We need to add data on where she went to college. A big school far from home is likely to provide more sexual experiences and more variety," a scientist who specialized on propulsion and fuel variants added.

"Jack, what can you tell us about her?" a slender physically fit man that Jack recognized from the fitness center asked.

"I can tell you right now she's not going to be interested in any guy who uses an algorithm."

"She might be."

"You're not her type. None of you are."

"What's her type?"

Jack shrugged. He didn't know exactly what her type was, but it wasn't these guys. Any guy that looked at Elizabeth analytically was an idiot.

"Maybe we'll let her decide that. Last time, I checked she didn't have your name stamped on her."

"And a tee-shirt doesn't count", another man chimed in.

* * *

Jack exited the elevator on Level B and walked down the quiet hallway. It was past midnight and most of the transporter's occupants were asleep.

Although time was no longer naturally broken into a twenty-four cycle as on Earth, Jack was glad that the transporter crew had done its best to recreate day and night. He expected that his living quarters would be dark. His three roommates would be asleep.

He thought about lunch and also Abigail's warning earlier in the day that other guys might be interested in Elizabeth. _It doesn't matter. I'm not getting involved with her. We're just friends. She can hook up with whomever she wants,_ he thought as he stopped in front of his door and buzzed it open.

When the door slid open and he walked into his living quarters, Jack stopped abruptly at the sight in front of him.

The lights were on and everyone inside was awake and out of bed. His bare-chested roommates were dressed as usual for sleeping -shorts and no tops. Elizabeth was dressed as usual for sleeping -a tee-shirt and shorts. Her hair was slightly tousled.

What was unusual was that Seth had both his hands securely on Elizabeth's hips. Holding her. She was standing in front of him. Just two small inches separating their bodies. Elizabeth's head was even with Seth's muscled bare chest.

"What's going on?" Jack asked, trying not to let his voice betray an emotion which hadn't been there before the door had opened and he had seen Elizabeth in another man's arms.

"Nothing. Everything's good", Seth replied as he let go of Elizabeth's body and then turned and casually climbed up into his own bunk.

Elizabeth gave Jack a tired half smile and moved passed him on her way to the bathroom. Jack's eyes followed her and then he turned to look at the men. Something had definitely been going on.

Carl, who had been sitting on the edge of his berth, took off his glasses and put them on the small shelf attached to the wall above his pillow. "Night, guys."

Jack waited until Elizabeth had closed the bathroom door and he heard water running before speaking again. "What's going on?" he asked in puzzlement.

"Nothing. I was just helping Elizabeth down from her berth", Seth replied.

"Why? She can get down just fine by herself."

"I know she can get down. I was just helping her. She went to splash some water on her face. Can we go to sleep now?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired", a sleepy Seth said as he lay his head on his pillow and then pulled the curtain closed.

"I mean why did you help her down", Jack asked.

"Just being friendly. Go to sleep, Jack."

"She had a nightmare", Carl explained. He moved his legs into his berth and pulled the thin blanket over himself. "She woke us up."

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She screamed. We comforted her," Carl said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Jack looked with concern at the closed bathroom door.

"Oh. . . . okay," he said. He tried to make his voice sound casual. What he really wanted to do was ask why no one had messaged him. Why no one had let him know so that he could have hurried to the room to comfort her. But that was irrational.

He took off his shoes and looked at the bathroom door again. "A nightmare?"

Carl yawned. "It was no big deal. Go to sleep."

"What was it about?"

"Something about the transporter blowing up and we all flying out into space and colliding with people. And her family dying and her not being there cuz she was floating around Earth and couldn't get to them. The usual nightmares we all have had at one point or another on this contraption as we hurtle through space."

"And you and Seth comforted her?"

"Don't get all macho and possessive", Carl said. "Seth is happily married and I didn't touch her."

"What are you talking about? I'm not getting all macho and possessive", Jack replied with a scowl.

"Please. You can pretend you don't have a thing for her, but we know you do. Have since day one."

"She's my roommate. That's all. I care about her just like I care about you guys."

"Sure, you do. Except I don't think you'd be so concerned if I had a nightmare", Carl remarked with a smirk. "Seth, you think Jack would be so concerned if you had a nightmare?"

"God, I hope not. I'm happily married," Seth called out from behind his curtain.

"You think he'd be so jealous if someone was helping me out of my berth?" Carl called up.

"Nope. But then he's never looked at your ass the way he's looked at hers."

"Shut up, you guys." Jack growled.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Jack lay in his berth and thought about Elizabeth who was now lying in her own berth just a few feet above him in the darkened room.

 _I'm going to ask her out,_ he decided with determination _. She's too good for everyone else on this ship._

 _Hell, just admit it, Jack, she gets to you._

 _Tomorrow. I'll just ask her if she wants to go on a date. A date? To where? We're stuck on a transporter. Somewhere. I'll think of something._

 _A real date. No more simple hand-holding. A date where she knows I like her. And a good night kiss. Or several._

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 10**

 **P.S. If you get a chance, listen to John Denver's "Annie's song" and "Leaving on a jet-plane". "Leaving on a jet-plane" reminds me of the episode where Jack and Elizabeth get engaged and he wakes her up to tell her that he has to leave, but he'll be back to marry her. "Annie's song" is really beautiful.**

 **P.P.S. Some of you may remember that I've referenced John Denver before, but last time it was in my Reversal story. :)**


	10. Chapter 10 Prelude to a Date

**CHAPTER 10 -PRELUDE TO A DATE**

Jack's decision to ask out Elizabeth turned out to be much easier than actually asking her out. He was pretty sure that she was interested in him, although he noticed with chagrin that several other guys on the transporter seemed friendly with her. That was the problem. She was friendly with everyone. And as a passenger rather than a crew member, she had plenty of available time to wander the long hallways and meet people. Often stopping to ask them about their jobs.

The more Jack realized how social and well-liked Elizabeth was, the more anxious he was about hurrying up and asking her for a date. But to where? That was another problem. If they were back in Canada, he could take her horse-back riding, four-wheeling, a picnic in a park, the theater, a fancy restaurant. The possibilities on Earth were endless.

The opportunities for a romantic date were much more limited on a large metal container propelled by rockets and careening through deep space for four months.

Jack had spent two days trying to come up with an idea for a date and so far he had nothing definite.

"Sorry, Jacques, but we are spraying all zee plants with insecticide and growth additive zis week. The smell – eet ees pulverized organic compost and bone meal – ees horrible. Eet will stink up zee room for a few days," Lori explained with a shrug when Jack asked if he could use the Propagation/Horticulture Nursery for a picnic.

"Thanks anyway," Jack replied. He sighed as he walked out of the room and made his way upstairs.

He had already thought about a date of star-gazing in front of one of the ship's large observation windows, but the transporter's chief astronomer had informed him that they were currently traveling through one of the more barren parts of space. "Maybe next week", the woman had offered. "It will be better in about a million miles or so. Check back then."

As Jack walked down the halls of the ship, he considered other possibilities.

 _The Entomology room? She didn't seem to be a big fan of spiders_.

 _The Fitness Center? Who wants to get sweaty on a date? I mean that kind of "work-out" sweaty.. . . . Of course, getting sweaty on a date from hot sex isn't objectionable_. Jack shook his head to clear the inappropriate thought and returned to thinking of a place to take Elizabeth.

 _In our living quarters? Maybe just hanging out and talking? Nah, Seth and Carl will probably be around to interrupt us._

"Hey, Jack, hold this for me a second", a crew member with a pixie hair-cut asked as she handed Jack a roll of tape when he walked near her. "I'm hanging up posters for our first movie night. It's tonight."

"Movie night?" Jack took the tape and pulled off a small piece, handing it to the woman who used it to secure a sheet of paper to the wall.

* * *

Jack had spent twenty minutes staring at his computer screen and waiting for Seth and Carl to leave their quarters for the Fitness Center so he could privately talk to Elizabeth, who was reading a book on her berth.

"Jack, you coming with us?" Carl asked.

"I'll meet up with you guys. I just need to finish up something", Jack explained.

When the door slid closed behind his roommates, Jack shut his computer, and jumped down from his berth – which had changed back to the upper berth for the week.

He glanced at Elizabeth who was busy concentrating on the pages in front of her while absent-mindedly eating apple slices. She was lounging on her mattress, propped up against a pillow while wearing a pair of casual pants and a relaxed shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, and she had stopped bothering to wear make-up weeks ago.

She looked wholesome and fresh. And totally oblivious to Jack.

"They're playing a movie tonight in the lift-off cabin. I was thinking maybe you'd like to go?" Jack remarked.

"A movie? Not a 4-D hologram?" Elizabeth looked up curiously from her book.

"Yeah. It's old-fashioned but might be fun. Apparently, they're even going to have popcorn. You want to go with me?"

"Not really. I'm reading a good book. Why don't you ask one of the guys?"

Elizabeth returned her attention to her book, leaving a surprised Jack standing there looking at her.

"I didn't really want to go with one of the guys," he explained after a brief pause.

"Hmm, okay. Well, have fun," she said without glancing up. Instead she turned a page in her book and took a bite of an apple slice.

 _Well, that didn't go as I expected,_ he thought with a frown.

Jack, disappointed with Elizabeth's unexpected response, headed towards the door and pushed the buzzer on the wall. When the door slid open, he took a step forward, and then paused. He couldn't remember the last time – if ever – that he had spent so much time thinking about - or being with -someone that he wasn't in a relationship with. Or even some women that he had been in relationships with. He couldn't stop thinking of Elizabeth.

Arguing with her. Teasing her. Laughing with her. Talking with her. Hours a day. Weeks of days. And always wondering what it would be like to kiss her.

He turned back around. Letting the door close behind him with a quiet swoosh.

"Elizabeth?"

She looked up and gave him a puzzled look. "Did you forget something?"

"I wanted you to go with me."

"To the Fitness Center? I already used the treadmill today", she replied dismissively.

"No. To the movies."

"I'm sure they'll be other people there", Elizabeth responded lightly and then put her head down again.

"I don't care if there are other people there."

"Hmm. Then you should be able to find a seat no problem", she mumbled without paying attention to him as she concentrated on the written words in front of her.

Jack looked at the top of her head and took a deep breath before speaking again.

"I would like to take you to the movies . . . or somewhere else . . . on a date. The two of us. Just the two of us. On a date. Would you be interested?"

The slice of apple dropped from Elizabeth's hand before it reached her mouth. She slowly lifted her head and stared at him wide-eyed.

"A date?"

"Yes", he replied with a smile.

"You and me?"

"Yeah."

"On a date?"

"Yes." Jack's smile faltered at Elizabeth's lack of enthusiasm and her puzzled look.

"If you don't want to, just say so", he remarked as she continued to look at him in some kind of flabbergasted state.

"To the movies?"

"Yes."

"Or somewhere else?"

"Yeah. But I couldn't really find anywhere else to take you. It's kind of limited here", he explained apologetically.

"On a date?" Her eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

"I'm not sure why this is so hard for you to understand", he said with a shake of his head. "I would like to take you on a date. Where we go to the movies, sit next to each other, hold hands, and maybe you even let me give you a good-night kiss."

A gob-stopped Elizabeth sat there motionless. "A kiss?"

"Well, maybe. Yeah."

Elizabeth stared at him.

"You and me on a date with a kiss at the end?" she asked in disbelief.

"Did you not get enough oxygen today? I want you to go out with me!"

"I'll be ready in five minutes!" Elizabeth hurriedly replied as she scrambled from the berth.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Date

**Dear Readers: Thanks for all your reviews! I read them and I hurried!🙂**

 **CHAPTER 11 – THE DATE**

The movie didn't start for another two hours so a grinning Jack grabbed a pair of swim shorts and headed to the Fitness Center.

He decided to avoid playing racquetball with the well-endowed red-headed Ally who may get the wrong impression of his interest, and he had too much energy to wait his turn for lifting weights. Instead, he ducked his head and entered the short plexiglass enclosure which contained a small jet-current swimming pool.

The slender rectangle pool – which was only twelve feet in length and four feet deep– had a constant flow of high pressured water pushed by jets at one end, allowing Jack to swim against stream for twenty minutes without moving more than a foot or two.

He moved his arms in the water. Stroke after stroke. Breathing rhythmically. He had asked out Elizabeth and she had said yes. There was nothing left to think about.

* * *

"Elizabeth, I don't have but three blouses. I'm usually wearing tee-shirts", Abigail explained as they looked at their combined assortment of attire now laid out on Elizabeth's berth. Elizabeth had messaged Abigail the second Jack had left to go to the Fitness Center. "With the weight limit, there wasn't a lot I could bring. Sorry."

"That's okay. What about this one?" Elizabeth asked as she held up an emerald-green flowing blouse.

"A little low-cut but I like it."

"Me too." she said as she moved to her locker. "I can wear my boots. Julie says they're sexy."

Abigail looked at the boots and nodded. "They'll be perfect with your jeans."

"Sweater or no sweater?"

"No sweater. That way if you get chilly and he sees you shiver, he'll put his arm around you to keep you warm."

Elizabeth stopped putting away her clothes and blushed slightly.

"There's just so much to think about! Should I do my nails?"

"I wouldn't bother."

"I'll put on a bit of make-up. And I'll wear my hair down. I only have two pairs of earrings to choose from. I have a huge jewelry box back home", she lamented. "Gosh, I hate living on this ship! I need my wardrobe back home!"

"If you were back home, you wouldn't have met Jack", a smiling Abigail reminded her.

"Good point."

* * *

One hour and forty five minutes later, Jack smiled at Elizabeth as they left for the movies.

"Jack, don't keep her out too late. It's a school night," Seth instructed from his perch on his bunk.

"Don't listen to him," Carl said. "You two kids have fun. Just no drinking and driving."

"We'll be waiting up. We want her home at a decent hour!"" Seth called out as the door started to slide closed and a giggling Elizabeth took Jack's hand.

"You look very pretty", Jack said when they were out of ear-shot of their roommates.

"Thanks. So do you. – I mean you look handsome", she corrected herself. _We've been living together almost two months! Why am I so nervous?!_

"I have to admit it's strange wearing a long-sleeved button-down shirt after wearing mostly tee-shirts and sweatshirts for weeks."

"I like it. Very handsome", Elizabeth replied as she gave him an appraising look which caused Jack to grin.

* * *

"Are you cold?" Jack asked when he noticed Elizabeth shiver a bit.

They were sitting in the same seats that they had been sitting in during lift off weeks earlier. Elizabeth felt like that day had been a life-time ago. Instead of clutching the leather arm-rest in terror like she had back then, she was now happily anticipating holding Jack's hand for the next two hours.

"The ship's temperature's been kind of erratic lately. I can go back to the room and get you a sweater if you want", he offered.

"No, that's okay. The movie's going to start soon."

"Are you sure? I don't mind."

Elizabeth nodded. "I'm fine. Really. Just a little cold. But I'm sure I'll warm up."

"I can't let you sit there being cold. Come closer. I'll keep you warm", he suggested as he lifted up the arm-rest between their seats, and moved his arm around her. "Lean against me."

If the lights hadn't dimmed at that moment, Jack would have noticed Elizabeth biting her lip to keep from grinning. _Thank goodness for temperature control malfunctions,_ she thought giddily _._

* * *

"That was good. Really good!" Elizabeth said two hours later when the lights came back on. "What did you think?"

"I liked it. I just wish the power hadn't flickered off in the middle of that one scene. Kind of ruined the suspense a bit."

"I know", Elizabeth agreed. "Especially when the whole audience starting booing until it came back on," she added with a smile. "But it was still really good. Thanks for asking me to join you."

"You're welcome", Jack replied with his own grin.

They walked leisurely back down the corridors. Changing levels of the transporter and nodding good night to people they passed. Holding hands. Talking about the movie. Laughing. Before they knew it, they were back to their living quarters.

"This is me," Elizabeth said with a chuckle when they stopped in front of their door.

Rather than wave her bracelet in front of the sensor for the door to open, she stepped to the side and leaned against the wall. Her hips hitting the metal handrail that ran the length of the hallway.

Jack stood just a few inches in front of her. Her back was pressed up against the hard wall but she didn't care as he reached out to touch her.

He gave her a boyish grin. "I'm not sure how this works."

"The door?" she teased.

"Us. Living together."

"We've been doing it for weeks", she reminded him.

"It's just kind of unusual for a first date."

"It is", she said with a giggle.

"The guys are probably in there waiting to harass us." He nodded towards the door, and then picked up a lock of her hair and twirled it with one hand, while the other hand stayed gently on her waist.

"They'll be merciless."

"I'll defend you," he joked but his smile faded away and his eyes were serious as he concentrated on her face.

"I know," she replied weakly. Her heart was racing and she no longer felt like talking about their roommates.

His fingers dropped the long lock of hair and moved to her neck. Softly caressing the skin.

"Maybe we should be just friends inside our living quarters?" he suggested.

His index finger lightly trailed a pattern just under her jawline and then casually moved to her bottom lip. Smoothly and slowly traveling across it in one direction– and then back in the other direction as his eyes focused on it.

"And _outside_ our living quarters?" she asked softly. She gulped in anticipation.

"Outside our living quarters I would very much like to kiss you right now," he said quietly but with deliberation as he moved his face closer to hers.

Her eyes closed.

Now it was his lips and not his finger which touched her mouth.

She had been dreaming about this moment since the day they had met. Since even before then; since the day she had been in her bedroom in Hamilton and seen his hologram image.

Now it was real.

His mouth touching hers.

Softly at first, and then she suddenly felt like she was on a cloud. It was the oddest feeling and somehow familiar. Like nothing in her body felt anything. Except his lips gently -deliciously - moving on her lips. She felt weightless.

Elizabeth felt that it was going to be the beginning of a long absolutely perfect wonderful blissful kiss.

But it wasn't.

Because instead of moving to taste her more, Jack hit her in the jaw and she dropped to the floor.

* * *

"What the hell?!"

Jack and Elizabeth were both lying crumpled on the corridor floor.

"Are you okay?" he spoke again.

Elizabeth rubbed her face and then her elbows. "I'm okay. Ouch. That hurt my back. What happened?"

"Grab ahold of the railing", he instructed as stood up and then pulled her to her feet.

Elizabeth obeyed his instruction.

"Did I hit you?"

"I think your elbow got my jaw."

"Damn, sorry about that." He looked at her face while he kept one hand on the railing. "It looks okay."

" **Attention. Attention. All passengers."**

Jack and Elizabeth both looked towards the intercom on the wall farther down the corridor.

" **We had a momentary loss of gravity. There's nothing to worry about, but please remember to hold the handrails while moving throughout the ship should we experience it again.** **All essential personnel please report to your duty stations. This is a Code Yellow One. All essential personnel please report to your duty stations. All passengers should ensure their areas have not experienced any damage."**

Elizabeth realized that she had been lifted off her feet – not by Jack's kiss – but by a loss of gravitational pull. In just over a second she had floated up several feet towards the ceiling and then immediately slammed to the floor when the gravity came back on. She had been so busy concentrating on the kiss – and apparently so had Jack – that neither hadn't comprehended that their feet had left the floor.

"It's fine. Probably just a small malfunction," Jack said.

"What if it happens again?"

"Gravity's not that important. We can float around this ship just fine. It's when it comes back on suddenly and without warning and we hit the ground that it's a problem. I'm going to go find out what happened. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I may just have a few bruises tomorrow."

* * *

"What happened with your date? You scare him away?" Carl asked when Elizbeth entered the room alone.

Carl was sitting on his berth next to a dark-skinned woman with short-cropped almost shaved hair and a shirt with the Union Jack and "God Save the King" emblazoned on the front. Elizabeth seemed to remember that the woman was a scientist but couldn't recall what type.

"I did not scare him away", Elizabeth replied disagreeably.

"Did you lose him? 'cuz the ship's not that big," Seth noted.

"It was that stupid gravity fluctuation", Elizabeth responded as she looked curiously at a short chubby man who was crawling out from under the bottom berth.

"Is he okay?" Seth asked.

"He's fine. He just went to check on what happened. You guys?"

"It ruined our game of multi-person chess", Carl replied as the chubby man handed him a small black object. "The pieces went flying everywhere and we can't remember what goes where."

"We're going to start a new game. You want to join us?" Carl's female companion asked.

"I'll just watch." Elizabeth took her place next to a woman that worked in the cafeteria who was sitting on her berth. The cafeteria worker- who introduced herself as Louise - shifted closer to the chubby man and put her hand on his knee before turning and giving Elizabeth a sympathetic look.

"Sorry it didn't work out. We were all rooting for you."

* * *

 _They're all rooting for me. Like I'm some love-struck female chasing after Jack,_ a contrary Elizabeth, who had changed into shorts and a tee-shirt when everyone had left, thought as she zippered her blanket around her to secure herself to her mattress if the anti-gravity mechanism stopped working again. _Does the whole ship know I'm attracted to him?!_

The group had left after an hour when they realized that they had lost interest in the game of multi-person chess. Carl and his companion had been too busy making out with each other to move their pieces to the next level, and Louise and the chubby man – who Elizabeth discovered was named Malcolm -had been discussing recipes instead of game strategy. Seth had taken off to the Communication Center when he received a message that a hologram from his wife and young daughter had just arrived.

 _Gravity is the force that pulls things to the earth._

 _Gravity is the thing that just ruined my first kiss with Jack! That's the better definition,_ Elizabeth grumbled as she plopped her head onto her pillow. A disappointed Elizabeth finally dozed off to sleep before Jack had returned to the room.

* * *

"No oatmeal today?" Elizabeth asked as she looked around the cafeteria food line the next morning. "It's oatmeal day."

It was 0730 and the cafeteria was abuzz with the normal people and activity. When Elizabeth had gotten out of bed in the morning, Jack was already gone. His clothes from last night lay on his bed, but there was no other evidence of him.

No evidence that last night he had been planning on passionately kissing her.

No evidence that she had been desperately wanting him to kiss her.

No evidence except her memory that their lips had briefly touched.

Abigail – who normally was friendly and upbeat – seemed grouchy as she handed a muffin wrapped in plastic to Elizabeth.

"Sorry. Not today. Nothing that will make a big mess if we lose gravity again. It happened twice during the night. Each time just for a few seconds, but they haven't figured out why," Abigail replied and then handed Elizabeth a granola bar.

"What's going on? You seem out of sorts and you haven't even asked me about my date with Jack", Elizabeth said.

"Oh, Elizabeth, I'm sorry. How was it?"

"It was wonderful until we lost gravity and he had to go to work. But what's bothering you?"

"The gravity isn't the only reason why we aren't having oatmeal. The ship's doctor is going through my kitchen today. Apparently, someone was feeling sick yesterday after dinner, and she thinks maybe some of my food went bad. As if I would serve bad food! That's why you're getting packaged food."

"Did Jack have breakfast already?"

"He's over there," Abigail nodded towards a table across the room. "Eating with Alex, one of the electrical engineers."

A somewhat surprised Elizabeth looked in the direction Abigail had gesture. She recognized the back of Jack's head. He was sitting at a round table that was empty except for him and Alexandra, a five-foot ten-inch slender perfect specimen of a female. Elizabeth had seen her in the Fitness Center running on the treadmill as if she was a gazelle. When she was on the treadmill next to her, Elizabeth always felt like a hippo plodding through the mud.

* * *

Jack didn't even seem to notice as Elizabeth carried her tray to their normal table and sat down with the usual breakfast crowd.

The rest of the day was no better. Jack never showed up at lunch. And at dinner, he ate quickly and then excused himself to do some work.

It was almost bedtime and Elizabeth was sitting on her berth preparing a lesson plan when the door slid open and Jack walked in. He frowned in irritation when he noticed Seth and Carl in the room.

"Elizabeth, can we talk outside?"

* * *

"I'm really sorry about last night", Jack said as they stood in the hallway outside their room.

"It's okay. Did everything work out?"

"With us? You were there." Jack gave her a confused look. "I thought everything was working out really well up until the kiss - I mean not the kiss – that was starting off good but then the gravity thing happened and –"

Elizabeth giggled. "I meant did everything work out with whatever you ended up having to do. I know you've been busy with something."

"Oh, yeah," a relieved Jack answered. "I'm still working on it and –"

Jack stopped talking when his bracelet buzzed.

He turned to look at the message now being portrayed from the mechanism on his wrist, and then glanced back at Elizabeth who looked at him expectedly.

"I'm sorry," Jack apologized. "There's a message for me in the Communications Center. We'll talk later, okay?"

* * *

"It's been two days, and you still haven't talked about your date? Or another one?" Abigail asked.

The two women were walking back from the Quartermasters on Level A. Abigail was carrying two large bedsheets which they had convinced one of the laundry staff into giving to them, and Elizabeth was carrying scissors and a roll of thin elastic.

"He's been busy. I never see him anymore. Except briefly in passing. Or at meals when everyone's around. It's okay. We're not in a rush."

"I suppose. But still. That's got to be the shortest relationship in history," Abigail noted with a comical shake of her head.

"It's not over! It just has stalled a bit. And besides, I'm busy with Wayne and our talent act for the show."

"I'll do the best I can with the limited supplies we have here, but I'm not a miracle seamstress."

"I appreciate it. And it doesn't have to be perfect. I'm meeting Wayne again this evening."

"What's Jack think of your act with Wayne?"

"He has no idea I'm even in the talent show. He's so preoccupied with whatever he's working on, that I haven't mentioned it."

* * *

Another two days later Jack and Elizabeth still hadn't spent any time alone together. They were back to being just friends. Roommates. Occasional meal companions when Jack had time to join the group.

Jack closed his laptop computer and sighed. The investigation part wasn't so complicated. It was the science and financial aspects that he wished that he knew more about. He had had all the basic classes at the Academy but his duty experience leaned more towards misdemeanors and routine felonies rather than corporate espionage and insider trading.

It had been four days since his date with Elizabeth and they had barely spoken. _I wonder what she's doing now?_ He glanced at his watch and realized that if he hurried, he might still catch her for dinner at the Cafeteria _._

 _I'd love to finish that kiss_.

Jack surveyed the screens on the wall. When he didn't see Elizabeth's familiar form on any of them, he pushed a button and the screens changed to twenty new camera views.

 _Wayne_ , he thought with disgust when he saw the man's image appear on the screen entering a room on Sublevel B. It hadn't escaped Jack's notice that over the past week, Wayne had been seeking out Elizabeth's company. _What's that guy up to? He's way too obsessed with Elizabeth_. _He's practically stalking her. I should talk to her about him._

 _What does anyone even know about the guy?_

Jack opened up his laptop again, looked up Wayne Hayward's Earth Citizen number, and entered it into his criminal database. The machine made a soft hum as it transferred data from a larger file and sifted through EC numbers. Jack set down his bottle of water when the screen lit up with the results.

 **Wayne Hayward. 35 years old. Male. Not married. Blood type: A Positive. DNA: Northern European. 672309106ABCCBABCCAB. Materials Engineer. Ph.D. University of Stockholm. Criminal Record: Assault**.

 _Assault? It couldn't have been anything serious or he wouldn't have passed the security clearance. But still. I don't like him around Elizabeth._

 _What's he up to at this hour?_

Jack pushed another button and the screen changed from the hallway to the inside of the room which Wayne had entered.

Jack looked at the screen and froze.

 _No. It can't be._

He kept his eyes on the screen and moved closer until his face was just inches away.

The room was empty of any occupants except for Wayne who was standing in front of a female figure, the room's other occupant, who was sitting in a chair.

She was tied to it. Her hands held together behind her back.

Her ankles bound together.

Jack watched as the man put a blindfold on Elizabeth and then ran his hand through her long hair.

 _NO!_ Jack screamed. He slammed his finger on the sound button but nothing happened. It was obvious that it wasn't working. He had no idea what Wayne was saying to Elizabeth.

Jack moved to the intercom button. Frantically pressing it over and over. Yelling at Wayne to move away from Elizabeth but he could tell from the lack of reaction from either Wayne or Elizabeth that the button was also broken. _What is he doing to her?! He's kidnapped her!_

Elizabeth was now struggling to get out of the binds. Desperately twisting her body left and right. She said something to Wayne but Jack couldn't hear.

When Jack saw Wayne reach his hand inside Elizabeth's blouse, he turned and ran from the security office.

* * *

Wayne sighed in exasperation. "I told you to hide it somewhere you could get to it."

"Stop yelling at me", Elizabeth responded grouchily.

"I'm not yelling at you. But why the heck would you put the key down your blouse?"

"You said to hide it!"

"Where you could get to it! How were you going to get to it down your blouse?! With your tongue?!"

"Just reach down and get it", Elizabeth said in exasperation as she pushed her chest forward.

Wayne shook his head at her ineptness but reached into her cleavage and retrieved the key. Elizabeth knew he wouldn't be fazed by reaching into her blouse. He did everything in a scientific manner. Making her feel like his lab rat rather than his assistant.

"Darn, I dropped it again!" she said angrily after Wayne put it in her fist which was now sweaty from her struggle. The key dropped to the floor and made a clinging sound.

Wayne bent down and picked up the key. "Maybe I should get someone else as my partner."

"No, I can do it. Just give me some more time."

"We only have ten seconds to each escape and trade places before the sheet comes down. Maybe you should just give up."

"I am a Thatcher! A Thatcher does not run away from a challenge! Now, just let me do this."

They had been planning their magic trick for a week and Elizabeth was still horrible but she refused to give up or let Wayne replace her.

* * *

Jack burst into the room and threw himself at Wayne, knocking the man to the ground. He punched him twice in the jaw and then, confident that the engineer wouldn't fight back, Jack ran over to Elizabeth.

"Are you okay?" He pulled her blindfold off her face.

"What are you doing?" she asked in bewilderment. _How did he even find out about our act for the talent show?_ she wondered _._

"Getting you out of this."

Elizabeth looked over at Wayne who was getting up off the floor, holding his face. "You hit him?"

"Of course, I hit him. He touched you."

Jack was surprised to find the key in Elizabeth's hand, but he quickly used it to undo the handcuffs and then began tugging at the ropes on her feet. He was again surprised when Elizabeth pushed him away.

"Stop. You're ruining everything", Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Ruining everything?"

"Yes. Ruining everything! I want to do this. I told him to reach into my blouse."

"You like this?" Jack asked in puzzlement. "You wanted him to touch you. To tie you up?!"

"Well, it's kind of awkward and the handcuffs were digging into my wrists but it's kind of exciting. I like it", Elizabeth explained.

"You wanted him to tie you up?" Jack shook his head. _She's into being tied up? Impossible. We've been living together for weeks. I would know it._ "You can't be into this."

"Yes I am. I'm getting good at it. Okay, maybe not good, but I'm getting better." Elizabeth said as she struggled with the ropes.

"She's the worse I've ever had", Wayne said with a scowl.

Feeling the need to defend Elizabeth's honor, even if she was an active participant in something sordid, Jack hauled off and punched Wayne again. Sending the man reeling backwards.

"I swear to God, if you hit me one more time, I will hit you back! I don't give a damn if you're law enforcement," Wayne exclaimed.

Jack ignored him and returned to help Elizabeth untie herself.

"I don't understand. Why are you doing this?" he asked. _I thought she was a nice girl! And I was going slow with her!_

"I wanted to do something with you but you haven't mentioned it again. And well, Wayne asked me if I was interested and I thought why not?"

"Why not?! I can give you lots of reasons why not!"

"I'm always game for something new."

"This?!"

"Everyone on-board is doing something. Well not everyone but most everyone. I wanted to get in on the fun. People have been pairing up."

"You and him?!" Jack asked incredulously. "Pairing up?!"

She nodded.

"Elizabeth, if you wanted to do be with someone, why didn't you just tell me. I know I've been preoccupied and this isn't my kind of thing but we could have worked something out. "

"I know. I know. But you've been so busy. And this is better than nothing."

Jack wasn't so sure he agreed with her statement, but he wasn't about to lecture her right now.

"This couldn't have been your idea?" he said as he finished taking off the ropes at her feet and moved to untie the one around her waist.

"It wasn't. At first. But he talked me into it."

Jack turned his attention to Wayne who was now sitting on the floor, holding his head. "Don't go anywhere!" he forcefully instructed the injured man.

"Stop fighting him! He didn't do anything wrong!" Elizabeth said in exasperation. "I asked him to reach down my shirt and it's my fault he got frustrated with me. I'm not fast enough for him."

Jack shook his head in bewilderment.

"You don't need to be fast, Elizabeth! He took advantage of you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. We've been doing it for days. Every evening after dinner. You'd think I'd be better at it." Elizabeth frowned. "My wrists are killing me. And my ankles too now that I think about it."

"This?! For days?!"

For the first time Jack noticed the bedsheet on the floor beside Elizabeth and the soft music playing in the background. He felt disgusted, bewildered, shocked. _Elizabeth into bondage?! What the hell did Wayne say to get her to agree to this?!_

"I suppose it will be worth it once the audience sees us."

"Audience?! You're doing this for an audience?!"

"Of course, Jack. Don't be silly. The thrill is to see the audience's reaction."

 _If it's anything like my reaction, there'll be more than a few heart attacks._

"I guess it looks kind of odd. But wait until you see me in my outfit! Wayne says it will add to the excitement and the mood."

Without a word, Jack crossed the room, pulled up Wayne by the collar of his shirt, and punched him.

* * *

Thirty minutes later Jack was feeling like an idiot as he left Wayne at the infirmary. The nurse couldn't stop laughing hysterically at the idea of Elizabeth as either the victim of a "mad scientist" or as some sort of participant in erotic bondage.

Word had spread quickly enough when passengers had seen Jack and Elizabeth help Wayne, who was sporting a bloody nose and black eye, walk down the corridors, all the while Jack apologizing profusely to him.

It didn't take long for the teasing to begin. As Elizabeth made her way back to their quarters, she was already bombarded with comments about whether she preferred lying in wait in Jack's berth to pounce on him, assaulting Ally, or being tied up in some kind of suggestive game.

Elizabeth, who had gotten over being the "Transporter's Tart" weeks ago, was now jokingly being referred to as the "Ship's S and M girl".

By the time, she reached the door to their quarters, she was refusing to speak to Jack.

* * *

 _It was never this hard to kiss a girl on Earth_ , Jack grumbled as he stood outside their living quarters and gently banged his head on the wall. Elizabeth had locked him out so he had to wait for Seth or Carl to return from wherever they were and buzz him in.

 _Of course, I never met a girl quite like Elizabeth. Why did I rush in there to rescue her without knowing the situation? Totally against protocol._

 _She makes me crazy._

 _I can't think straight around her._

 _I shouldn't even bother with her._

 _She's probably not even a good kisser._

 _Ah, who am I kidding? I would love kissing her more. I love even just talking to her. Hell, I love just being in the same room as her._

Jack realized that he had a lot to think about.

Like where to take her on their second date.

How to get her to agree to go on a second date with him.

How to get her to start speaking to him again so he could ask her out on a second date.

How to get her to agree to be in the same room as him so he could start speaking to her again.

Charlotte Thornton would be grinning from ear to ear if she knew what was going on. Jack had finally met a girl who got to him.

Jack realized that the only good thing about the whole incident was that Elizabeth couldn't escape from him. They were stuck on the ship for another two months.

 **Up next: Chapter 12**


	12. Chapter 12 - The Cost of Forgiveness

**CHAPTER 12 – The COST OF FORGIVENESS**

Elizabeth put her toothbrush away, climbed into her berth, and zippered herself in. When she pulled the curtain closed, she felt like she was putting up a huge "Do Not Disturb" sign. She didn't want to speak to anyone.

She lay her head on her pillow and thought about the situation.

 _Why in the world would Jack think that I needed saving?_

 _Because he thinks I need to be coddled. Because he thinks I'm delicate. Because he thinks that I have no business going to Coal Valley._

 _I thought he was over that. I thought that he believed in me._

 _Is he ever going to see me as who I really am? Who I want to be?_

 _Why in the world would he think that I was into bondage?!_

* * *

The next morning, Jack turned off his alarm before it buzzed. He hopped down from his berth and glanced at Elizabeth's sleeping spot. He wondered what she was thinking behind her curtain. If she was even awake.

With a frown, he grabbed his towel and clothes and headed for the shower room. Ten minutes later, he pushed his wet hair from his face, finished getting dressed, and quietly left the living quarters. As much as he would like to have waited for Elizabeth to wake up so they could speak, he had work to do.

Elizabeth waited until she heard Jack leave before she opened her curtain and crawled out of her berth. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet.

The teasing and taunting from the other passengers – who found anything outside of the ordinary to be a welcome distraction from the everyday monotony of space -was still fresh in her mind. All night long her bracelet receiver had binged with new messages. Did she know of a good dungeon? Where could someone find leather on the transporter? Was her safe word "tart"?

 _Stupid scientists and crew members! Don't they have any way to amuse themselves besides laughing at me?!_

Once Seth and Carl had left for breakfast, Elizabeth took a long shower; using more water minutes than she could afford. Afterwards, instead of allowing her hair to dry naturally as she went about the morning, she opted to waste another twenty minutes by using a blow dryer.

She brushed her teeth twice. She read a chapter of a book that she had already read three times. She wrote in her journal.

The growling of her stomach let her know that she couldn't avoid the cafeteria any longer. If she wanted breakfast, she would have to face the other passengers. She had delayed as long as possible.

* * *

"How about pancakes?" Abigail asked when Elizabeth approached her. "The doctor cleared my kitchen and says I'm allowed to serve freshly prepared food again."

"Thanks." Elizabeth looked around the room again as she waited for Abigail. Nothing. No one had said a word when she walked in. Although many passengers had already finished eating and left for their duties, there were still at least fifteen diners in the cafeteria.

And yet, not one had made a snide comment. Not one taunt about handcuffs and whips. Not one teasing comment about leather and chains.

She saw a few people smile when they noticed her but that was all.

"Did you hear about last night?" Elizabeth asked as Abigail handed her a plate with two perfectly round pancakes.

"I did. Do you want a fruit cup?"

"Um. Okay" a perplexed Elizabeth replied. _This isn't at all what I expected. Could it be that everyone has already forgotten about my humiliation and moved on to something else?_

When she looked around again, she saw Wayne glare at her as he returned his tray to the used pile and then walked out of the cafeteria _. Nope, it hasn't been forgotten._

"Abigail, what did you hear?" Elizabeth asked warily.

Abigail handed a fruit cup to Elizabeth and then busied herself refilling the coffee urn. "That Jack thought you were in danger and he made sure that you were safe."

"And Wayne?"

"He was mistakenly injured in the confusion", Abigail said evasively.

"You know very well that isn't all that happened. Now spill the beans. Last night when I went to bed, half the ship was teasing me. And this morning, no one has said a word. What's going on?"

Abigail's face broke out into a grin. "Jack's protecting you again."

"What are you talking about?"

"When he found out that some of guys were going to tease you this morning – they were going to tie themselves up for you - he made it perfectly clear that if anyone on this ship so much as used the letters 'S' and 'M' in the same sentence, he would lock them up for the remainder of our trip."

"He didn't?"

"He did. And he asked me not to serve my salted and milk chocolate pretzels for snacks after some of the guys referred to them as bondage knots.," Abigail said as she tried to hide her smile. "He really feels bad about last night."

"He should!"

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"Why should he feel bad? From what I understand, he raced to your side when he thought you were in danger. He beat up a man he thought had inappropriately groped you. And then when he realized that he had misinterpreted the entire situation, he took Wayne to the Medical Unit and apologized to him."

"Well . . yes. . . that's all true", Elizabeth hesitated when she tried to remember why she was mad at Jack. "But. . . but he made a fool out of me. First thinking I needed saving. Like I couldn't defend myself. Like I'm some delicate little woman. And then him thinking I was doing . . _that_. . . with Wayne."

"Most women would be flattered by what Jack did."

"I suppose" Elizabeth admitted with a shrug. "But I'm the ridicule of the ship!" she added vehemently.

"It's not that bad for you", Abigail replied dismissively. "It's worse for Jack."

"He can handle a little ribbing", Elizabeth said with a scoff.

"It's not that. It's his job. Wayne's seriously thinking about bringing criminal charges against Jack. He also wants to contact Jack's superiors and get Jack officially reprimanded."

"No!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "That's not fair!"

"Jack did punch him. Several times. Wayne's pretty banged up. Did you see him this morning?"

"Jack was just trying to protect me!" Elizabeth instinctively felt the need to protect Jack from everyone but herself. "He can't have it jeopardize his job!"

"That's the least of Jack's worries."

"What's more important than losing his job?!"

Abigail chuckled and gave Elizabeth a knowing look. "You're not speaking to him."

* * *

Jack looked at the bundle of green stems and bright yellow flowers in his hand. It was a good-sized bouquet. Probably more than Lori should be giving him from her experimental garden, but still he hesitated.

"Dandelions?" he asked in dismay. "Don't you have anything else?"

"Dent de lion. Eet is French for lion's tooth. Because leaves are like teeth. Zey are pretty, no?" Lori said in her thick accent as she wiped her hands on her apron. They were standing in the horticulture room among the smaller plants Lori was growing.

"I was hoping for something nicer. Something a girl would like to get so she'll forgive a guy for being stupid."

Lori looked at him with slight exasperation. "We are on a spaceship hurtling in space, I cannot just grow you your roses."

"Why does everyone refer to this ship as hurtling through space? I like to believe that we are on a predetermined course at the correct speed."

"Of course. Yes, of course. But I cannot grow roses. Dandelions yes. Zhey are useful for our new colony. You can make wine from zhem. Eat zhem. Zhey are ground cover. Zhey are resilient. Zhey spread quickly. Dandelions are good for our new colony."

"They may be good for the new colony, but they're not good for my love-life. If I give her dandelions instead of roses or something fancy, she may never forgive me. And she'll toss them in my face."

Lori drew back in surprise. "Toss een your face?"

"She comes from money. High society. She's probably had a hundred guys give her flowers. And I'm guessing that none of them ever gave her yellow weeds. They probably gave her huge expensive bouquets of dozens of long-stemmed red roses."

"But she didn't like roses", Lori remarked knowingly.

Jack looked at her dubiously. "How do you know that?"

"Because eef she did, she would _not_ be on zhes ship. She would be with one of zhose men who gave her roses, no?"

Jack shrugged. "I suppose."

"Take the dandelion", Lori instructed as she busied herself with her tomato plants.

"It's a weed," Jack grumbled.

"Eet is like your girlfriend, yes?"

"A weed?" Jack raised his eyebrows at Lori. "Elizabeth is not a weed. And she's not my girlfriend. Yet."

"She ees a dandelion," Lori stated matter-of-factly. "Tolerant. Resilient. Pretty. Like sunshine. Something for you to wish on. Zhat ees a dandelion. Zhat ees your Elizabeth to you."

 _She's got a point_ , Jack realized as he looked at the flowers in his hand.

* * *

On the other side of the ship, Elizabeth stood in Wayne's small work-space.

"You cannot press charges against him or tell his superiors," she insisted to the engineer who had been doing his best to ignore her.

"Why not? Look at me! Look what he did to me", the man exclaimed as he turned to show Elizabeth his battered face.

Elizabeth winced slightly when she again saw the swollen lip. The black eye. The bruised cheek. "It was an honest mistake. You told me yourself that you have a criminal record!"

"For getting in a fight with a co-worker over what was the better profession. Materials engineering or mechanical engineering! I hit that guy once on the head with my laptop while we were both drunk! I didn't beat him up!"

Elizabeth had been trying for ten minutes to convince Wayne to forget the entire incident the night before but he refused to listen to reason.

"He was just trying to protect me," Elizabeth explained again as she tried to defend Jack's actions.

"From a magic trick?!"

"He thought it was a hostage situation. . . . It was possible", she added weakly.

"On a transporter?! What was I going to hold you hostage for? Oxygen?! Another granola bar?! A bigger berth?! No. Your boyfriend went too far."

"He's not my boyfriend. Yet."

"Whatever. He still went too far."

"If you report him, I swear I'll tell everyone how you do your magic tricks", Elizabeth finally threatened.

Wayne rolled his eyes at her. "We practiced for a week, I told you how I did them, I showed you how I did them, and you still couldn't figure them out. I think my magician secrets are safe."

"Please, Wayne. What can I do to get you to change your mind?" she pleaded. "He can't get in trouble for what he did. He just can't. Law enforcement is everything to him."

Wayne stared at Elizabeth for a moment. Eyeing her up and down.

"How much is it worth to you?" he finally asked with a thoughtful expression.

* * *

The corridor was empty as Elizabeth walked back to her living quarters. She didn't like the deal she had made with Wayne but it was worth it to keep Jack out of trouble. She already felt dirty.

When she buzzed her bracelet in front of the door, it slid open revealing that none of her roommates were inside.

Walking past the shower room, she sighed. _Oh shower, I'm going to miss our long times together_. _Your warmth. Your gentle massage. The way you sooth me._

 _But I didn't have a choice. It was you or Jack's career._

Water-minutes were a commodity to the women on the transporter and most of Elizabeth's minutes were now going to go to a cute female rocket scientist whom Wayne was trying to impress _._

Wayne had driven a hard bargain. A large chunk of Elizabeth's water-minutes - which actually were partly her roommates because they had given her so many - for his silence.

 _I'm down to one minute a day for the rest of this trip._

 _Jack, I hope you're worth it,_ she thought with another sigh.

Seeing Jack's sketchpad on his berth, Elizabeth picked up a pencil and wrote him a short note.

 **Jack, I'm sorry I over-reacted. I talked to Wayne and he's going to forget the whole thing** **(he's also replaced me for his talent show act. Apparently, I was never going to be good enough – oh well.) Thanks for coming to my rescue, Elizabeth** _._

She left the note on his berth, plopped onto her own her mattress, and wondered what to do now. Going to the fitness center to use the treadmills was out of the question. She realized that she'd just get sweaty and then want to take a shower to clean up, which she could no longer afford to do.

 _If I'm smelly, Jack will never want me. Even if he forgives me for getting so mad at him last night, he won't want a sweaty girlfriend who can't shower._

 _How am I supposed to clean myself and wash my hair and condition it in one minute?!_

 _Hmmm, maybe instead of one one-minute shower every day, I could just take one seven-minute shower once a week. That would give me six days where I would have to avoid anything dirty or strenuous. And avoid people._

 _So basically, I'd get lazy, fat, and lonely._

 _Or I can shower every other day for two minutes and twenty seconds each time. I'd just have to find a way to avoid Jack every non-shower day._

 _I suppose I could go swimming._

Elizabeth hadn't been swimming on the transporter but she knew that several other passengers, including Jack, liked the small pool with its never-ending current. Standing up, she went to lift up her mattress and retrieve her swimsuit from the compartment below. It was then that she noticed the small plastic bottle on the shelf above her pillow.

 _Oh, Dandelions!_

Unable to keep from smiling, she brought the flowers to her face, sniffed them, and giggled. _Not exactly like a fancy perfume._

 _But so sweet!_

She picked up the note on the shelf. **Friends? Forgive me? Jack.**

 _He got me dandelions,_ she thought giddily. _They're so pretty._

 _Wherever in the world did he get dandelions on a transporter in the middle of deep space?!_ she wondered as she shook her head in happy amusement and held the flowers to her chest.

 _ **Up next: Chapter 13**_

 _ **Dear Readers, I had no idea where I was going to go with this chapter until I read the reviews for the last chapter. One reviewer didn't think Elizabeth had a good reason to be mad, another reviewer wondered how Jack was going to get out of his mess, and another mentioned that both Jack and Elizabeth are realizing that they are meant for each other. So, I decided to work off of the reviews and came up the chapter. :)🙂 Thanks for your thoughts!**_

 _ **P.S. Some of you may recognize the title from another one of my stories. I used in in Reversal when a silly Jack thought Elizabeth had a baby "kid" she had abandoned.**_


	13. Chapter 13 - The Talent Show

**CHAPTER 13 - THE TALENT SHOW**

After the fiasco with Elizabeth having been tied up and Jack assaulting Wayne, it didn't seem right to just pick up with the earlier kiss which had been interrupted by the gravity fluctuation. Neither Jack nor Elizabeth wanted to rush things. Both deciding that taking their time and avoiding future misunderstandings might be best.

"So what happens now?" Abigail asked as she and Elizabeth walked down a long corridor after sending messages to Coal Valley and to family back on Earth.

"We've kind of hit a restart button. Everything over the past week was so messed up. Our movie date was great, but then it got interrupted, and then we barely saw each other due to work, and then there was that whole misunderstanding with the magic act."

"Which Jack thought was a hostage situation or some sordid tryst."

"Okay, let's forget about that," Elizabeth remarked. "And then his job was in jeopardy. It's just been a lot to deal with. So, we're restarting."

"When's your do-over first date?"

Elizabeth frowned. "I'm not sure yet. We're going to sing together in the talent show, but we're not _together_ together."

"You must have kissed since your first date"

"Nope", Elizabeth said with slight embarrassment.

"You haven't kissed again?" Abigail asked in surprise.

"No. We've barely even held hands!" Elizabeth whined. "It's like we're both more nervous now than before!"

"There's no doubt you two like each other. There's nothing wrong with taking your time."

"I suppose. But I would like to kiss him again," Elizabeth said wistfully. "It sure was nice."

"What song are you singing for the talent show?"

"It's called Annie's Song. It's really romantic. He made a guitar with some help from one of the engineers, a 3D printer, and some wire. It's really good. We've practiced once."

Abigail stopped walking and looked at Elizabeth in disbelief. "You've been singing a romantic song together and you still haven't kissed again?!"

Elizabeth scowled. "It's like he's changed his mind about us. Or he's afraid to kiss me."

Abigail smiled. "Why would he be afraid to kiss you?"

"I have no idea!"

* * *

Jack was afraid to kiss Elizabeth.

 _What is the matter with you, you idiot? She likes you. You like her. Just kiss her sometime!_ he told himself as he strummed the strings on his make-shift guitar. They were sitting next to each other on the lower bunk in their living quarters.

He wanted to kiss her. He thought about kissing her. And yet, he didn't.

"Stop already with that song! It's making me miss my wife!" Seth called out from his upper berth and shoved a pillow over his head as he tried to drown out the sounds of Elizabeth voice.

Elizabeth yelled up to their roommate. "It's your own fault. You could have waited until the next transporter."

Seth, who had been eager to begin his geology work on Planet Assaymark, has grabbed the last available seat on this flight and left his wife behind to handle selling their home and putting their belongings in storage. The farther he got from Earth, the more he regretted that decision.

"You pick up the next lines too," Jack reminded Elizabeth as he motioned to the paper in her hand. "I think I should sing the lyrics 'Like a sleepy blue ocean' **."**

"Okay. Why's that?" Elizabeth asked absentmindedly as she decided to ignore Seth's groans of missing his family, and she turned her attention to the page of lyrics in her hand.

"'Cuz your eyes remind me of a sleepy blue ocean", he said with a boyish grin, causing Elizabeth to be grateful that she wasn't an ice cube or she would have instantaneously melted into a puddle.

Jack knew all the right lines to say. How to tease Elizabeth. How to flirt with her. How to make her blush. But he had to admit that behind his cocky attitude, he was afraid that he would end up like Seth, a well-built muscular man who could bench-press 250 pounds but was turned into mush by a wife and the lyrics from a simple song. _Do I want to be mush_?

There was also the problem with a lack of privacy. Jack and Elizabeth had previously decided that while in their living quarters, they would just be friends. Unfortunately, that didn't leave them many places on the ship to be alone. Although the security office was private, Jack realized that it probably wasn't appropriate to invite her to stop by just so he could make out with her while on duty.

And then there was the problem of her social status.

Sometimes she said things in passing that made him wonder if they would even be a good match. Yesterday at lunch when he had mentioned to the others at the cafeteria table that he had been riding horses since he was a kid, Elizabeth had then relayed how she got her first mini-transporter at age sixteen. _Does she have any idea what those cost?!_

And the night when they had Chinese food, she mentioned that it reminded her of a great little Chinese place in Beijing that she liked to go to once a month for their delicious Kung Pow Chicken and Won Ton soup. Never thinking that most of the other passengers couldn't afford to fly to China once a month for their favorite restaurant.

 _Maybe I should just forget about the idea of a relationship with her. It would never work. She's way too rich and cultured for me. Too many problems already._

"You forgot a line."

"What?" Jack looked up at her.

"You missed a line," Elizabeth said. "You're not concentrating. The show is in two hours."

* * *

The audience clapped enthusiastically and cheered through each one of the twenty acts of the talent show. Elizbeth felt like she was back at summer camp with the good-natured ribbing and hooting and hollering, and the crew members acting like counselors with their never-ending encouragement.

It was obvious who the winners would be when Wayne and his new assistant – a twentysomething female rocket scientist – performed their magic tricks including a sensational finale of exchanging places after first having been handcuffed and tied to chairs six feet away from each other. When the bedsheet was pulled away to show them sitting casually in each other's chairs, the crowd whooped with appreciation.

"That was incredible!"

"How'd they do that?"

"Amazing!"

Jack turned to Elizabeth, "Sorry I ruined it for you as his assistant, but stop frowning. It was pretty darn good", he said quietly.

Elizabeth plastered a fake smile on her face and joined in the clapping, but inwardly she grumbled. When everyone else in the audience had been mesmerized by the sleight of hand, all she had noticed was how squeaky clean the woman in handcuffs and rope ties had looked. _Her hair is so full and bouncy. She probably washed it and conditioned it twice. With my water-minutes!_

Of the twenty acts, Elizabeth and Jack's singing duet came in fourth place, earning them a certificate and a pair of transporter-issued slippers.

Elizabeth wouldn't have cared if they had come in last place, she just loved the way Jack looked at her when he sang. When he sang the lyrics 'let me lie down beside you', she felt like undressing for him right there. And she probably would have if they had been alone and he had asked her to.

"Let's go. Party in lounge B2!" one of the crew-members announced to the crowd as the awards were finished being passed out.

* * *

The ship's passengers didn't waste any time moving to the large lounge on Level B and soon the party was in full swing.

Elizabeth took another sip of her drink and looked around the room. Jack had a beer in one hand as he stood with a group of guys who would be working on the power facility once they reached Coal Valley. The men were smiling and animatedly talking with each other.

Someone turned up the music even louder and several people began dancing. Star, a cute woman with a pixie haircut and the perfect name for space travel, grabbed Jack's hand, pulled him away from the guys, and began swaying her hips to the rhythm. Jack threw back his head in laughter at something she said and began moving with her.

Elizabeth barely paid attention to the conversation around her as her eyes followed Jack. There was no doubt about it. He was one of the most sought-after bachelors on the transporter.

Weeks ago, the females on the ship had seen Jack as another nice attractive man. Then, after the whole fiasco with Elizabeth tied up, he was seen as a nice attractive man who could throw a good punch and protect a woman. That added considerably to his desirability, and despite his misunderstanding of that situation, the female passengers had moved him up to a nine out of ten on the "hotness" chart they kept. Now, after the talent show with his guitar playing and smooth voice, he was definitely an eleven out of ten.

Elizabeth scowled and took a long drink as she watched another woman join Jack, placing her hands on his hips and laughing as they moved together. Jack going back and forth between the two women.

It was clear that he had his pick of almost every single woman on the transporter. And if he tried, he could probably land even some of the women who had already paired up with another passenger or crewmember.

Elizabeth's desirability, on the other hand, had diminished considerably since she arrived on the ship. Initially seen as a smart nice attractive woman, she somehow had managed to become a smart nice attractive woman who had slightly injured one person (Ally), gotten another person beaten up (Wayne), seemed to be preoccupied with not getting dirty or sweaty, and was hopelessly besotted with Jack. The fact that she had a great singing voice couldn't make up for any of that. Most of the men on the ship considered her off-limits.

 _It's hopeless. He's changed his mind. He doesn't want me after all_ , Elizabeth thought in disappointment as Jack disappeared into a crowd of exuberant passengers who were huddling around a table.

 _Those other women are smarter than me. Sexier than me. More his social level. It probably didn't help that I mentioned that my closet at home is three times the size of our living quarters. Stupid! I should never have mentioned that!_

She was standing in a large group which included Alex the Gazelle and Ally the fiery racquetball player when Jack looked in her direction.

Elizabeth's face broke out into a hopeful grin when he winked at her before rejoining his group of friends who were playing a drinking game involving tossing small balls at moving holograms.

But then her smile quickly turned to a frown when she noticed that the women next to her assumed that Jack had been winking at them.

 _Was he looking at me or one of them?_

 _Me, of course! Yes, definitely me._

 _Maybe._

 _Hopefully._

 _Damn, why are there so many females on this transporter?_

"His singing voice is terrific", Alex noted.

"You're not with him, are you, Elizabeth?" a woman from the Quartermasters questioned. "I don't want to step on any toes, but I'd love to throw him into bed."

"She's not", Ally answered before Elizabeth could reply. "They're just roommates."

"Well, you're not with him, are you?" Ally asked hotly when she saw Elizabeth give her scowl.

Elizabeth glared at the woman and then took a sip of her drink before moving away without answering. Instead, she approached Jack and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned his head and saw her, he gave Elizabeth a smile.

"What's up?" he yelled loudly over the noise.

"I just wanted to thank you again for my flowers."

"What?" he asked as he moved his head closer.

"My flowers!"

"Flowers?"

"My flowers! Thanks again!" Elizabeth said loudly into his ear.

"No problem. It was the best I could do on a transporter. Do you know how hard it is to get flowers when you're in deep space? I couldn't get anyone to deliver."

"They were lovely", she started to say with a giggle, but Jack's attention was diverted by someone pulling on his arm.

"It's my turn", Jack explained loudly to Elizabeth as he nodded to the game.

"No problem," Elizabeth replied. But she had already lost Jack's attention as a woman in tight jeans handed him a ball.

* * *

The music continued to be loud and the alcohol continued to flow as the party went on into the night. Elizabeth rarely drank alcohol, but she found herself finishing her second hard apple cider after dancing enthusiastically with several of the friends she had made on the ship.

Wiping a bead of sweat from her brow, Elizabeth was only half-heartedly listening to the conversation around her when she heard Jack's name mentioned.

"He's coming over here now", Alex remarked. The women all turned their heads in the direction at which she was looking.

Jack, feeling confident after a night of compliments about his singing, attention from several female passengers, and winning a drinking game, was moving towards the group of attractive women with a friendly smile on his face.

 _Gosh, he looks so good!_ Elizabeth thought _. Did he look this sexy the first time I met him? Impossible._

Elizabeth and the other women would have continued staring longingly at Jack as he pushed his way through the crowd if the lights hadn't gone out when he was just a few feet away.

"Lights!"

"Power please!"

"Back- up Lights!"

The crowd's voices mingled with each other as some booed, some laughed, and some cursed the power outage as they were plunged into total darkness.

Elizabeth did none of that. She couldn't say a word.

Because Jack's lips were on hers.

His mouth was warm and delicious. Like a mixture of beer and the citrus tang of limes, which she decided was now her new favorite flavor.

His hands held onto her hips, keeping her close as her mouth parted for him. Their tongues met for the first time and moved perfectly together.

She blindly dropped her bottle, hoping it landed on the couch behind her rather than the hard floor but not really caring. He kissed as if he couldn't get enough of her. Weeks of thinking about it and now he finally had her lips. Her mouth. Her tongue.

Elizabeth was thinking it was the most perfect kiss. And it was. Until . . . .

. . . until a uncomfortable thought jumped into her mind from out of nowhere.

 _Does he know it's me?! The lights went out and we were all standing so close. What if he thinks I'm Alex? Or Ally? Or Clara? What if he meant to kiss one of them?!_

 _I have to tell him it's me._

 _Oh, my, he's a fantastic kisser._

The guilt of allowing Jack to kiss her when he might think that he was kissing another woman finally made Elizabeth pull back slightly.

"It's me", she quietly informed him in the blackness of the room.

She knew that Jack didn't hear her because, without allowing any more time to pass, he reclaimed her lips.

The way he held her, like she belonged to him, made Elizabeth go dizzy. She recognized the smell of his deodorant. He was the only man she knew that wore it. Sometimes when he left it out on his berth and he wasn't around, she had picked it up and smelled it quickly before putting the cap back on. It was clean and unpretentious. So different from the expensive cologne that the men she usually dated poured on themselves. She loved this scent on him.

Her mouth parted again and she returned his kisses.

 _He must not have heard me. The crowd is so loud._

 _Damn, he's good at this!_

 _Who cares if he doesn't know it's me!_

After another forty seconds, Elizabeth finally willed herself to break away again.

"It's me," she explained after taking a deep breath. His kisses had left her breathless and her heart pounding. She hoped he wasn't disappointed with her words.

Instead of acknowledging her confession, he put his hands on each side of her chin and moved her mouth to where he wanted it. On his.

His kisses became even harder. Deeper.

 _It's not my fault that the crowd's so loud or its pitch black in here,_ she reasoned. _I tried to tell him. Okay, so maybe I whispered, but hey, there are no rules for this._

 _Oh well. Some other girl's loss is my gain._

She wrapped her hands around his neck and gave in to passion.

 _. . . Okay, just a few more minutes of kissing then I'll tell him._

 _He probably already knows it's me! Of course, he does._

 _Where did he learn to kiss this way? He's fantastic! The boys I know back home don't kiss this way!_

 _I'll tell him._

"It's –" she started to say, but his tongue didn't let her finish.

The noises around them continued as people yelled for a back-up generator and others cursed when they bumped into things as they tried to move about, knocking over bottles and cups of liquid.

But neither Jack nor Elizabeth noticed. They didn't notice any of it as they stood in the darkness in their embrace.

"Jack, you have to know that it's –" she tried to say after another minute of impassioned kissing but she stopped herself when his hand moved along her back.

 _My knees are buckling._

Nearby someone started singing their country's national anthem. And soon the two Australians on-board were loudly chanting 'Aussie Aussie' while the lone New Zealander countered with "Kiwi!" at the top of his lungs.

Elizabeth finally pulled back and gulped in oxygen. Jack's tongue moved to her neck and then his lips nibbled on her ear.

 _I have to tell him._

 _Before the lights come back on and he realizes I'm not Alex the gazelle or the voluptuous Ally or the other girl standing with us_.

"It's me. Elizabeth", she declared loudly above the noise and into his ear.

She knew Jack had finally heard her, when he pulled back. She had expected him to be surprised. Maybe embarrassed at his mistake. Maybe angry that she let him go on for so long.

She hadn't expected the reaction she got.

He laughed at her. The room was dark but she imagined his face with his dimples forming in his cheeks as he grinned broadly.

"Elizabeth, why do you feel the need to continue to tell me that it's you? That's the third time. If I didn't know it was you, I wouldn't be kissing you," he chuckled as he placed a palm on her cheek.

"Really?"

"I pushed through the damn crowd to get to you just because I had to kiss you", he said with another laugh.

"You did?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Oh", was all she could think to say. She was freaking out. _He wanted to kiss ME! Like that. After the whole past week, he still wanted to kiss me!_

"Who else would I be kissing?"

 _"_ I don't know." She realized that she sounded stupid but she didn't care.

"Was that okay? That I kissed you? That I want to keep kissing you." She could hear the smile in his voice.

Jack wasn't sure if Elizabeth had said anything and he couldn't see her nod her head in the darkness.

"Elizabeth, can we keep kissing?" he said loudly in her ear above the deafening noise of several crew members now trying to out-yell each other in some type of weird space chant while banging their hands on the walls.

Without another word, Elizabeth reached for him in the darkness and pulled him back to her. Pressing her lips to his.

It was Jack who pulled away this time. Interrupting her kiss before it had really begun. "Wait a second. You do know it's me? Jack? Right? You did call me Jack, right?" he worriedly questioned.

"I'd know your lips anywhere", she declared breathlessly. And then she blushed at her bold statement.

Jack started to speak but at that moment the lights and loud music filled the room as the power came back on, illuminating Elizabeth's flushed face. Her lips swollen from his kisses.

The crowd barely had time to enjoy the power when the transporter made a grinding sound which seemed to come from the walls themselves.

Someone turned down the music's volume and everyone paused quietly. Listening as they all looked at each other in confusion.

The grinding sound reverberated through the transporter and then stopped as suddenly as it had started. Leaving the passengers staring at one another with worried looks.

""What was that?"

"That didn't sound right."

As the party-goers started asking questions, Elizabeth kept her arms loosely around Jack's torso. If anything was going wrong on the ship, this is where she wanted to be.

 _And it can't hurt to let all the other women on this ship know he's mine!_ she realized happily _. I mean, the lights are back on. They can see he's with me!_

 _He's with me!_ she thought giddily.

 **Attention passengers.**

The voice over the intercom was professional and calm. It was one of the same voices that made announcements almost every day about mundane meal chooses and birthdays and weather back on Earth.

 **This is a code yellow level 2. All essential crew-members please report to your duty stations. Passenger Alexandra Harris and Passenger Jack Thornton please report to the Control Center.**

Alex and Jack caught each other's eyes and both hurried to the doorway along with the crew following the instructions of the commander over the intercom.

The rowdy partying had come to abrupt end.

No one declared that the party was over but everyone knew it was. The crew members were all gone. The alcohol was almost gone. The atmosphere had changed.

Everyone that was left in the lounge was curious about the noise they had heard, or tired from the long evening of the talent show, the drinking, the dancing. They looked around at the messy room and began cleaning up the remnants of the evening.

Elizabeth stared at the back of Jack as he left the room without a word to her. Her cheeks felt the soft brush burn from his facial stubble. Her lips felt inflamed by his kisses. She was out of breath and she didn't know what to do.

 _What the -?_

 _For Pete's sake! Why is it so hard to keep from being interrupted on this ship?!_

 _How do I go from THAT to this?_ she asked herself as she looked around at the room which was emptying out.

Abigail, carrying a trash bag, walked over to Elizabeth and picked up the beer bottle from the couch. Throwing it into her bag, she looked at her dejected friend.

"Elizabeth, are you okay? You look a bit flushed."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just wondering why they called for Alex to go to the Control Center."

"She's an electrical engineer. Maybe they need her advice on something."

"And why Jack?"

"Now that's the more interesting question", Abigail said with a worried frown.

 **Up next: Chapter 14**


	14. Chapter 14 - The Space Walk

**CHAPTER 14 – THE SPACE WALK**

Elizabeth waited until long past midnight for Jack but he didn't come back from his meeting at the Control Center where he had been called to discuss the strange grinding noise which had disrupted their evening. She finally turned off her light after Seth had kicked out Carl's female friend, who didn't see any reason why she couldn't spend the night.

"Because it's a small room. I don't want to hear you making out. And this isn't college," the geologist had informed the woman as he picked her shoes up off the floor and threw them out of room. "Now go."

"Thank you, Seth", a grateful Elizabeth said. "Good night, Carl."

"Good night, Elizabeth", her roommates replied in unison.

* * *

It was three o'clock in the morning when Elizabeth woke up with a start.

The room was dark and uncharacteristically cold.

She shivered and pulled her blanket closer. After another five minutes of chilling temperature, she unzippered her blanket, crawled out of her berth, and walked the few paces to her locker. She lifted the metal latch quietly, trying not to make noise which might wake her roommates.

Fumbling in the darkness, she found her sweat pants and sweat shirt and pulled them out of the locker. She was pulling the pants on over her shorts when the door to the living quarters slid open and a beam of dim light entered the room.

"You're still up." Jack said quietly as he walked in.

"I was cold. It's freezing", she replied with a shiver.

"There's a problem with the heat. They're trying to keep it at sixty degrees."

"What happened? Why did you have to go to the Control Center? What was that weird noise?" Elizabeth whispered loudly.

"We'll talk in the morning. It's late", Jack replied as he took off his shoes and went into the bathroom.

Elizabeth climbed into her berth and listened for the sound of the water turning off which would signify that Jack had finished brushing his teeth. When Jack walked to his berth, she leaned up and rested on her elbow.

"Everything's okay. Go to sleep", he encouraged her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure. Now get some sleep," he said quietly so he didn't disturb Seth or Carl.

"Okay. Good night. . . . And Jack, I had a really good time tonight. Thanks."

A tired Jack smiled in the darkness. "I had a good time too. Good night, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth lay down and pulled the curtain closed around her.

"Jack?" she whispered as she heard him crawl into his berth.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad the power went out at the party," she said quietly.

"I was going to kiss you anyway," he replied with a smile.

"For that long?"

Jack let out a laugh. "Probably not if the lights were on. We would have drawn a crowd. So, I'm glad the power went out too."

Elizabeth tried to fall asleep after that but she was too busy smiling. Her mind running away with happy thoughts.

* * *

"Don't run!" Elizabeth called to her students as they ran down the corridor after she had released them from their morning class to go swimming.

It had been a week since the talent show and she was still on cloud nine. Unlike the series of problems on the ship with broken parts and frequent flickering of the power, she and Jack weren't having any problems; they were getting along perfectly.

Last night, he had taken her to one of the large windows on Level 3 for a picnic dinner while they gazed at the stars. As they sat on pillows which they had taken from their berths and looked out the floor-to-ceiling piece of glass that was eight feet wide, Jack had made a casual suggestion that they should kiss each time they saw a shooting star.

"They're actually not stars," Elizabeth had noted. "They're small pieces of rock or dust – basically meteoroids – hitting the atmospheres of other celestial bodies and burning up. And they can be pretty rare."

"Uh huh," Jack had replied as he absently-mindedly traced a pattern on her arm with his finger. "I still say we kiss if we happen to see any."

The way his finger moved on her skin, made Elizabeth feel a tingling in some places far removed from her arm.

The couple's basket of food had been largely left uneaten due to unusual frequency of shooting stars which had taken Elizabeth by surprise. Elizabeth wondered if it were possible to live off of kisses rather than food; it was much more enjoyable and she found Jack to be absolutely delicious. As Jack had held Elizabeth's hand and they had walked back to their living quarters, he had silently reminded himself to thank the ship's Chief Astronomer for her forecast that they would be going through a meteoroid shower that evening.

"Willie, Patrick, I will meet you in your living quarters in two hours! Don't forget to get lunch!" Elizabeth yelled out to the brothers as she now returned her thoughts to the present.

Elizabeth smiled at her students' exuberance and wondered how she would handle them for the next twenty-four hours. After hearing that the parents of the two boys were both feeling ill and had been sent to the Infirmary, Elizabeth had volunteered to babysit them and spend the night in their room.

In addition to babysitting, Elizabeth was also doing a chore she had rarely ever done in Hamilton. Laundry. The boys' parents weren't the only passengers to become ill over the last few days. Several crewmembers and other passengers had been plagued by headaches, fatigue, and nausea rendering them barely able to crawl out of their berths to perform their duties. Yesterday, Elizabeth – who had not been affected – had volunteered to help fold laundered towels and deliver them to each set of living quarters.

As she had told Jack, the transporter was her home and the passengers were her family. She was going to help anyway she could.

It was only after the crew had done a floor by floor, room by room inspection, that it was finally discovered that a leaky pipe had allowed gas to escape and slowly creep into several living quarters and office space, making the occupants ill. Most, including the boys' parents, were now in the infirmary recovering.

"Careful, boys!" Elizabeth flinched when the children almost knocked over two crewmembers who were walking in the opposite direction down the hallway.

The two women didn't even seem to notice the rambunctious students as the taller of the females put her arm around Star, the cute woman with the pixie hair-cut, and spoke sympathetically to her.

"It's okay to cry."

"It was awful!", Star moaned as she wiped her nose and her shoulders shuddered.

The two, caught up in their own drama, walked past Elizabeth without even paying attention to her.

 _I wonder what that's all about?_

* * *

As Elizabeth entered the cafeteria, she shivered and her thoughts were consumed with having a warm bowl of soup for lunch. _I should have brought my ski jacket!_ she grumbled.

Elizabeth hadn't even gotten to the line of food at the far end of the room when she sensed it. Everyone in the room was tense. Mumbling. On the verge of tears. Anxious.

She looked around and didn't see one smiling face.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, an emotional Elizabeth headed to the security office.

Jack was sitting with one hip on the edge of his desk and was concentrating on the laptop in his hands when the door slid open and Elizabeth walked in.

"You heard?" he asked when he looked up and saw her expression.

He had wondered how she would react when she heard about the tragedy this morning. Even though he didn't think Elizabeth had ever had any contact with the man who had died, his death was still traumatizing.

"Come here", Jack said when she nodded sadly at him. He put both feet on the ground and held out his arms for her to walk into his embrace.

"I just want to go home," she mumbled into his chest while he held her. "What was I thinking? Coming on a transporter. Going to another planet. Thinking it would be one big fun adventure. I was a stupid naïve fool".

He pulled her back slightly and looked her in the eye. "You were not a fool. And you're not stupid. You are at times beautifully naïve. And there's nothing wrong with that. I like it."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," she responded as she buried her head into his strong chest again. Despite the drama of the day, she couldn't help but find pleasure in inhaling his smell and feeling his strong arms.

She didn't want to think about what she had heard in the cafeteria as the tearful passengers had relayed how one of the crewmembers, on a space-walk to fix a broken piece of the transporter, had somehow become untethered and jettisoned away from the fast-moving ship. Unable to get back to the ship, he had floated away, knowing that his oxygen would run out in an hour and then he would die alone and frantic.

Jack took a deep pause. Wondering how much to tell her.

"If it makes you feel any better it was his own doing," he finally said, causing Elizabeth to look at him in confusion.

"What do you mean? Did he not attach himself right? Because even if he didn't, he didn't deserve to die like that. Drifting off into space," Elizabeth declared. "Someone said he was screaming in his helmet, and it was horrible to witness," she added uneasily.

"He chose to associate with the wrong type of people."

"Jack, what's going on?"

"I need you to stay away from some of the people on the transporter. We can't trust everyone."

* * *

Elizabeth barely paid attention to the boys she was supposed to be watching as she sat in their living quarters listening to them read from their schoolwork as they simultaneously kicked their feet back and forth hitting the lower edges of the berths.

Jack hadn't gone into too much detail when they had been in his security office; just enough to worry her. He had only begun to tell her that there had been too many problems on the transporter for it to be just coincidence, bad luck, or faulty workmanship when he had been summoned to the Control Center.

Elizabeth had a hundred questions to ask him but they would have to wait until he had time to talk to her.

She wrapped a blanket around her shivering shoulders , anxiously looked at her messenger bracelet, and needlessly shook it to make sure it was still working. It had been several hours since Elizabeth had seen Jack in the security office and he had promised to stop by and see her when he had time.

"Boys, let's go to dinner", she declared.

"Is Officer Thornton going to eat with us?" the younger of the brothers spoke up as he closed his computer program. "You spend a lot of time with him."

"He's my friend. And no, he's not going to be there."

"Why not?"

"He said he had some work to do and for me to go ahead and eat without him."

"Are you going to marry him?" the older brother asked with a teasing grin.

"That is a very personal question. Too personal to ask your teacher when she is hungry and cold. Now let's go."

* * *

"Hi Abigail, it's a small crowd tonight," Elizabeth remarked as she greeted Abigail in the cafeteria which was less than half full.

"Still a lot of people sick. How are the Smatters doing? I see you've got their two boys under your wing." Abigail nodded to the boys who had hurried in line ahead of Elizabeth and were grabbing plates of cherry pie and then heading to the ice-cream dispenser without bothering to get dinner first.

"They're doing better in the infirmary. Hopefully, they'll be released tomorrow morning. Boys, get back and get real food", she called down the line.

"I'm surprised that you're not nervous."

Elizabeth smirked. "Why would I be nervous? They're just boys. I'm a teacher. I can handle watching two boys."

"Not the boys. I was talking about Jack."

"Jack?"

"I know how much you care about him."

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth casually questioned as she eyed the steaming chili Abigail was ladling into a bowl for her. "I saw him earlier today. He's not sick. Our living quarters weren't affected and neither was his office."

Elizabeth carefully took the bowl of hot bean chili from Abigail and set in on her tray. "Can I get a roll, too?"

"I know Jack's not sick." Abigail looked curiously at Elizabeth as she handed her a roll and then a second one.

"Then what are you talking about?"

"I meant his space-walk."

* * *

Elizabeth raced down the hallways. Blindly going around the corners unconcerned if anyone was coming in the other direction.

She had left her tray with its rolls and bowl of chili on the metal rails in front of Abigail and sprinted out of the Cafeteria. The two boys, sensing something exciting was happening, had run down the corridors following her.

When she got to the "air box" – the nickname for the small room which served as a transition between the transporter and space, it was too late.

Jack was already locked inside and preparing for the outside door to open and leave him exposed to the vast, quiet, deadly black nothingness that made up space.

"Why?!" she pleaded to one of the crewmembers whom she recognized from the Cafeteria and the Fitness Center.

"Half the crew is sick. The other half needs to do their jobs so that Thornton can do what he needs to do. Now, please stay out of the way, Ms. Thatcher."

"But why Jack?" she whined. "He's in the Defense Force. He's not an astronaut!"

"He volunteered", Seth said as he came up behind her. "They needed someone to replace the broken part and close the flap left open after the guy became untethered this morning. If someone doesn't fix it, this ship is going to become one big metal freezer and we're all going to die."

"I can handle a little cold!" Elizabeth wailed. "It's not that bad!"

"Elizabeth, It's minus four hundred and fifty-five degrees in space. They've been trying their hardest to keep the temperature on this ship up but they can't do it anymore. It's been steadily dropping all day and will continue to drop ten degrees every hour if we don't do something."

"But what can he do? He's not trained for this!"

"It doesn't take any scientific knowledge. He just needs to be able to get out there, replace the piece, and handle the tools."

"How does he even know what to do?"

"They're talking him through it. The man over there", Seth nodded to a balding man wearing a set of headphones. "He's going through each step with him."

"Why didn't he tell me?!"

"Because he didn't want you to worry. Which is one of the reasons I'm here. Not just because I'm concerned and he's my friend but because he asked me to stay and look after you if you found out and raced in here. Which apparently you did."

"Well, of course I did!"

Seth tried to smile. "i guess he knows you pretty well."

"Why couldn't another passenger or crewmember do it?" Elizabeth asked on the verge of hysteria.

"It needs to be someone who is confident and has steady hands. Someone who won't freak out under pressure. I volunteered but he wouldn't let me because I've got a wife and kid. And we want the crew members here in the cabin making sure that everything's going right. They're monitoring his vitals and oxygen. Manning the hatch and pressure. Keeping him tethered to the ship."

"But what if –" Elizabeth stopped herself. She couldn't say it.

"Don't worry. He's got two tether lines on him."

* * *

Telling Elizabeth not to worry was like telling her not to breathe. She couldn't stop.

She watched out the window, and when Jack was out of sight she watched on the camera screens as he slowly moved along the side of the ship. She tried to make sense of the monitors and the beeping sounds but they meant nothing to her. She listened tensely to the balding man giving Jack instructions.

"You need to twist it to the left. Just like back on Earth. Lefty loosey. Don't take your hand off either part or they'll float away and can hit another part of the ship. We don't want any more damage", the man said into his headset. "Put your tool in the left leg pocket. Velcro it closed."

"You're breathing too hard, Officer Thornton. You need to calm down. Pause. We've got time. I want you to pause for five seconds. One one thousand. Two one thousand. Three one thousand. Four one thousand. Five one thousand. . . . "

Elizabeth silently counted with the balding man and tried to slow her breathing. Hopelessly praying that somehow Jack would sense her rhythm and they would match. As if she could make them breathe calmly together.

" . . . Okay. Your gloves will be bulky but you need to maneuver your hand in and snap it out. . . . . . Good. You're doing fine . . . .Now place it in your top right pocket. Close the Velcro. Open your top left pocket. Take out the piece from your upper left . . . . "

Elizabeth wrung her hands together, nervously fidgeted, and followed the balding man's commands to Jack while she stood out of the way. Mimicking what Jack was doing in space. Going through each motion with him as some kind of teammate or partner.

"Grasp it with your right hand to steady yourself. Now turn it three clicks. . . . . Slow down, Thornton. Don't get frustrated. Your heart rate is going up. . . ."

* * *

It took forty minutes for Jack to replace the part and close the compartment and another five minutes to get out of his spacesuit once he was in the airbox.

When he exited the transfer room, Elizabeth watched as he got congratulatory pats on the back and handshakes from the crewmembers before she threw herself into his arms.

"I'm glad you're back safely," she whispered.

Jack chuckled. "Were you worried I wouldn't be?"

"No", she lied.

He smiled with his boyish charm. "Yet you're out here in the middle of the night waiting."

"If you must know, I was just watching for Halley's comet", she again lied unconvincingly and hoped that he wasn't embarrassed by her emotional welcome.

"Halley's comet? We're nowhere near Halley's Comet," he laughed loudly as he held her tightly.

Jack looked over her shoulder and noticed the two young brothers watching them. "What's with the kids?"

"I'm babysitting them." She kept her arm around Jack's waist but turned to the children. "Come on boys, let's get you into your beds. It's late."

As Jack and Elizabeth walked down the corridor holding hands and following after the skipping boys, Elizabeth had no idea that Jack was thinking about how much the four of them looked like a family. And in that moment, he knew what he would say to her tomorrow.

 **Up Next: Chapter 15**


	15. Chapter 15 Relationship Change

**Dear Readers: Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! I love getting them. (and a message to M: I'm planning the next chapter of Reversal in my mind and hope to have it written and posted in November:) )**

 **This chapter may not be what you were expecting but Elizabeth needs a chance to show her hubris! 🙂 And she'll get it!**

 **CHAPTER 15– RELATIONSHIP CHANGE**

"Everything went fine, Ma. It just got me thinking. If something happens to me while I'm gone, I don't want you to blame Elizabeth Thatcher."

Jack was sitting alone in his living quarters. He stared into the small round circle on the top of his laptop. Its flashing red light indicating that it was recording his hologram message for his mother which he would later take to the Communication Center to transmit.

"I know that I was angry that I was reassigned to Coal Valley because William Thatcher wanted someone to babysit his daughter. And I said some not very nice things about her. Like that she needed to be babysat. But she's not like that. She's really nice. She's not the spoiled brat I thought she would be. She's one of my roommates and we've gotten to be good friends. Really good friends."

Jack paused. He had just spent ten minutes talking to his mom about his recent space-walk. Even though the hologram was a one-sided conversation, it somehow still felt cathartic to tell her all about it; allowing him release the left-over tension of his foray into space. Ever since he had been a little boy, things always felt better after he talked to his mom about them.

He stared at the camera again.

"The spacewalk hit home for me how dangerous this assignment is. I don't have to tell you that a job in law enforcement can be dangerous. I think a lot about dad too. And I'm careful like I promised you I would be. I just want you to know that if I don't come home . . . . . If something happens to me, I don't want you to blame Elizabeth or her father. I know that they're the reason that I'm here but I'm okay with that. I'm not upset about it anymore. She's really great. . . .

. . . Now don't start planning a wedding, Ma", Jack added with a soft chuckle. "Seriously. I know you're probably getting all excited hearing me talk about a girl, but stop it. There's not going to be any big wedding for you to plan. . . . Still, it would mean a lot to me if you and she can comfort each other if something happens to me. "

Shaking his head to clear his somber mood, Jack took a deep sigh.

"Okay that's it, Ma. Sorry to be so serious. On another note, I won fourth place in a talent show competition."

* * *

Elizabeth, her skin warm and moist from a three-mile run on the treadmill, swiped her bracelet across the door sensor, watched it slide open, and then walked in.

"Hey there," she said happily when she saw Jack sitting on his berth. "Let me just jump in the shower really quick and then we can go to dinner. The Smatters are back to being healthy so I am free of babysitting."

"Do you need some of my water-minutes?" Jack asked as he looked up from his computer. Elizabeth had never told him that she had traded her minutes for Wayne's silence and Jack assumed that she was simply bad at budgeting her shower time.

"No, that's okay", Elizabeth called out as she reached into her locker and pulled out a fresh set of clothes. "Abigail took pity on me and gave me a couple of hers."

Elizabeth continued to talk as she walked into the shower room. "I can wash my hair and condition really fast. I'm getting to be a speedster. How was your afternoon?"

Elizabeth turned on the hot water and climbed into the shower without realizing that Jack hadn't responded.

* * *

"Okay, I'm ready", Elizabeth declared ten minutes later. She came out of the shower room and slipped on her shoes.

"Can we talk for a minute?" Jack asked.

He quickly closed his computer, hiding the screen image of two people in the backyard of a modest home. The young boy in the photograph was wearing a baseball mitt on one hand and laughing with a man in his thirties who looked strikingly like an older version of Jack.

"Actually, I'm starving. Why don't we talk at dinner?" Elizabeth efficiently pulled her wet hair back, secured it with a rubber band, and then quickly put on some light lip balm.

"I really don't want to talk in front of a tableful of other people."

"Why not? We like the people at our table," she noted as she glanced at her reflection in the mirror and smiled in approval. She liked the fresh healthy glow and toned muscles that she was getting from exercise.

"It's kind of private."

"Okay. We'll walk slow and talk in the hallway. Let's go", Elizabeth declared as she headed out the door. "I hope it's veggie lasagna tonight. That stuff is delicious."

"Elizabeth."

Elizabeth stopped and turned around. She looked at Jack and for the first time she realized how serious he was looking.

"What's going on?" she asked. She walked back into the room and leaned against the bunk-beds.

"I've been doing some thinking."

"That's always good."

When Jack didn't laugh at her teasing, Elizabeth looked puzzled and asked again, "What's going on?"

"I want to talk to you."

"Okay. I'm listening."

Jack opened his mouth to talk but quickly closed it when the door to the living quarters opened again almost immediately after it had just closed.

"Jack, can I borrow your spiral gadgetor? I can't find mine," Carl asked as he walked in. He stopped and looked back and forth between Jack and Elizabeth. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt" he said uncomfortably.

"Yeah, it's in my locker", Jack said with a frown at the interruption. He fumbled with the latch before getting the door open. Pulling out the metal tool, he handed it to his roommate.

"Thanks."

No one spoke again until the door slid closed behind Carl as he quickly left the living quarters.

* * *

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Elizabeth asked when the two of them were alone.

"You know I really like you, right?"

"Yeah. I was kind of hoping that was the case," Elizabeth said with a smile. "You know, with all that kissing we do."

"We get along really well. We have since day one."

Elizabeth laughed. "That's not exactly true. You were horrible to me at times on day one. And two. And maybe even three."

She expected Jack to laugh back, but he seemed too preoccupied with what he wanted to talk to her about.

"I think you're a great girl."

"I think you're a great guy." Elizabeth grinned again and wondered why Jack was so sentimental. "In fact, I think you're so great that I'm going to let you take me to dinner."

Jack nervously paused and looked at Elizabeth's smiling face. He hated ruining that smile.

"This has nothing to do with you," he said as she looked at him expectantly.

"What has nothing to do with me?"

"You know you're really great."

"You already said that. So, I'm really great. What has nothing to do with me?"

"It obviously has something to do with you," Jack conceded as he nervously paced the small two-foot space between bunks.

"You just said it didn't", she reminded him.

Jack took a deep breath. "I mean it has something to do with you because it concerns you, but it's not your fault or anything that you did or didn't do."

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "What's not my fault?"

"I think -" Jack hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I think we should not be involved with each other anymore."

"Not be involved with each other?" Elizabeth's brows crinkled as if she had heard incorrectly.

"It might be best. Until we get to Coal Valley. And then we can spend more time deciding –" He paused again. "Deciding what we want and where things are going."

"What are you talking about?"

"We've been moving too fast in this vacuum of a spaceship," Jack explained. "Things might be different if we're around other people in a normal world doing everyday things."

"We haven't been moving fast at all", she countered in bewilderment. "And why would things be different when we get to Coal Valley?"

"They just might. Think about it. We're roommates here. Kind of forced to be together a lot."

"Forced? Is that how you consider our time together?"

"Okay, that didn't come out right," a flustered Jack said as he found himself backpedaling. "I just mean that here on the ship, we spend a lot more time together and it's an unusual situation for two people."

"I agree that some things will be different when we get to Coal Valley. We won't be living together and we'll both be working more. We won't see each other as often. But I don't understand. Where is this coming from? What do you mean stop being _involved_?"

"I think we should stop being involved. For the rest of the trip."

Elizabeth stupidly wondered if maybe the word 'involved' had a different meaning than the one she was familiar with.

"You want us to stop being in a relationship? Stop kissing? Stop holding hands? Stop being a couple?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Until we get to Coal Valley and decide then what we want?"

"It might be for the best."

"Why?" Elizabeth demanded. "And don't say it's because we're living in a vacuum on a ship. Like we're caught up in our own world and not living in reality. Because we are. This is reality. You and me. We're honest with each other. We're real with each other."

"I just think it's for the best," he replied with a shrug. "Before we get too serious."

" _Before_ we get too serious?" she asked in astonishment.

"Yeah."

"Was this some kind of game for you? You flirt with me. You make me fall for you. And then you dump me?!" Elizabeth said in bewilderment. "Because there are better games to play. Checkers. Chess. Drinking games with holograms!"

"No. It's nothing like that. I'm not playing a game with you."

"Well maybe you should because it would be more fun than this!"

"Elizabeth", he said in frustration. "This isn't a game to me."

"Then what is it? Did you not get enough oxygen today?"

"Elizabeth, I -"

"I'm serious. Did you get enough oxygen today?" she interrupted him with concern in her voice.

Moving past him, she pulled down an emergency oxygen mask from his berth and looked at it curiously.

"Put that away. Yes, I got enough oxygen today!" he said in frustration before calming himself and continuing. "I'm in law enforcement. It's not always a safe predictable job. I can be reassigned easily. I can be in danger. I just don't think you know what you're getting into. We naively got into this relationship."

"So, you're breaking up with me?"

Jack nodded guilty.

Elizabeth tried to keep her irritation out of her voice but it was there, just beneath the surface when she spoke.

"Because I know what I'm getting into. And if I don't, that's my decision to make. So, don't blame this break up on me. If you want to stop seeing me and you don't want to see where this is going, just admit it. But don't use me as an excuse. Don't use me being naïve as an excuse."

"Elizabeth", he said. "It's not like that. I was naive too. But now I've had some time to think."

"Time to think? And this is the best you could come up with?!"

"Yeah," he muttered as he looked away.

"Well think again! Sit down and think again!" she ordered as she pointed to the lower berth. "I'll wait."

Jack ignored her order, although it crossed his mind that if he was a student, he would have immediately sat down at her firm instructions. "Elizabeth, please. We need to stop being involved."

"Is this because I was worried about you yesterday? Do you think I'm smothering you? Because if you don't want me to worry so much about you, I'll try not to. Next time you go on a space-walk, I'll read a book or crochet a blanket!"

Jack raised his eyebrows at her. "You don't crochet."

"I'll learn!" She threw up her hands in exasperation.

"You're not smothering me. I'm glad you were concerned about me."

"Concerned? You make it sound like I'm just some roommate concerned about another roommate! We have something together!"

Jack shuffled his feet and looked down before running his hand through his hair in an anxious attempt to calm himself and continue with what he had decided to do.

"It's just that I'm working on stuff and I need to concentrate."

Elizabeth took a deep breath and looked at Jack until he again averted his eyes from hers.

"Jack, I understand that you have a job. So do I. And I would never want to interfere with your work. And what you did out there – the space walk- that was incredible. But I don't see why we can't still have a relationship. We can take things slow. But we don't have to stop them."

Jack struggled for a way to explain himself. But how could he explain to her that he was investigating her father's corporation, that there was now a very good chance that he was going to be reassigned back to Earth in the next month and take the return transporter home, that his job could cost him his life, and that he was hopelessly infatuated with her. Not to mention, that his career came first- even if it meant putting her father in jail and bankrupting her family.

And so, he said the only thing he could think of.

"I want to stop being a couple."

Elizabeth stared at him. Wondering what had changed over the last few days.

"Is this because I stopped washing my hair everyday?!"

Elizabeth realized she was wildly grasping at straws but she had no idea what was going through Jack's head.

He gave her a bewildered look. "What?"

"Because I gave up my water-minutes for your career!" she announced as if she had laid down her life for him. "I sacrificed deep conditioning. And loofahing!"

"Loofahing?"

"Loofahing. With a loofah sponge. Body scrubbing. You know," she explained as she started mimicking running a large loofah sponge along her body.

"I have no idea what you're talking about", Jack said with a shake of his head as he watched Elizabeth move like she was doing some kind of tribal dance. "But no, this has nothing to do with water-minutes. You can have mine. I just think we should just be friends."

"You think we can go back to just being friends?"

"Sure, why not?"

"We live together! We sleep on top of each other!"

"Not in the biblical way. I mean the other way," she clarified unnecessarily when he simply stared at her. "Not sexual."

"I know what way you mean! I'm there too!"

Jack paused. This break-up was not going at all as he had expected. "Look, we can still be friends. And roommates."

Elizabeth took a deep breath. She looked at the man who had been a huge part of her life for almost three months. He had the ability to make her swoon and he had the ability to make her furious. Right now, it was the second one.

"Why don't you explain to me your definition of 'friends and roommates so I don't go into this _naively_?" Elizabeth said rudely.

"Don't be that way, Elizabeth. You know you're my best friend on this ship."

"Best friends do not make out in front of a window of shooting stars!"

Jack wondered how this conversation had gotten so derailed that they were talking about water-minutes, crocheting, a damn sponge called a loofah, and star-gazing.

When he didn't respond, Elizabeth continued. "We were more than friends. We can't go back to where we were before," she scoffed.

"I don't want to lose that friendship. I want you as my friend."

"And your roommate," she irritably reminded him. "I guess you'll treat me like you treat Seth and Carl. I'll be one of the guys."

"I'm not saying it will be easy at first-"

"Because in case you haven't noticed, I'm not one of the guys. Of course, you should have noticed that the other night when your hands were up my shirt. Or have you forgotten about that already?"

"I haven't forgotten, I just -"

"That's good. At least your mind hasn't gone entirely", she said derisively.

"We'll be good roommates. Great roommates."

"Roommates", she repeated harshly with raised eyebrows.

"We'll still eat our meals together, and share stories at night, rely on each other, and heck, we'll even borrow stuff from each other like roommates", he added with an attempt at humor.

"Borrow things?! You're not a lending library or a bank!"

"I am trying to make this easier on us."

Before an angry Elizabeth could think of a response, the door slid open and Seth walked in. He stopped and stared at the two of them. Realizing immediately that he had walked in on something private, he turned around. "Sorry", he mumbled. "I'll leave."

"Don't bother," Elizabeth called out coldly. "You can stay. I'm leaving."

She paused when she crossed the threshold.

"And Seth, if he says he really likes you and tries to kiss you, don't worry about it. Apparently, that's just what normal roommates do. It doesn't last."

 **Up Next: Chapter 16 The plan**


	16. Chapter 16 -The Plan -Capturing an Apple

**CHAPTER 16 – THE PLAN - CAPTURING AN APPLE**

Elizabeth was furious.

And in shock.

He had used her. He had toyed with her.

For whatever reason, Jack had decided to tempt her into a relationship and then let her fall crashing to the ground. He was like the lapse of gravity they had experienced during their first kiss. Taking her up high only to leave her bruised and bewildered when she smacked into the hard floor. Only this time, she was infuriated.

Despite her empty stomach, she skipped the cafeteria's vegetable lasagna and stomped down the corridors of the transporter. She opened the nearest stairwell door and began climbing. Her angry feet pounding onto each step. When she reached the top level, her fury extended to the transporter for not having more levels. Cursing, she pushed open the stairwell door, and walked down another long corridor until she came to another stairwell door. Elizabeth flung it open and began going down.

If she had to walk every inch of this ship until she was calm, she would. There was nowhere else to go.

By the time she reached the bottom level of the transporter, her loud angry footsteps had become softer and her cheeks were wet with tears. She leaned against the metal wall, and allowed the tears to flow before continuing her walk.

* * *

"You like eet here." Lori observed with a smile when she walked into the Propagation Horticulture Nursery carrying a bucket of plant food and saw Elizabeth staring at a small pine tree.

"I'm sorry. Am I in the way?" Elizabeth asked apologetically as she sniffled and ran her nose across her sleeve. She had wandered the entire ship, going up and down the stairways and back and forth along the corridors. After more than an hour, she found herself in this room, surrounded by her and Jack's "forest".

"Not at all. Any friend of Jacques ees welcome here."

"I'm not a friend of his any longer," Elizabeth said bitterly.

When Lori looked at her curiously, Elizabeth began rattling on about Jack kissing her passionately day after day for a week, and then making a surprise declaration that he no longer wanted to date her. Apparently the dating had run its course.

* * *

"Zhe apple does not fall far from zhe tree", Lori said with a sad sigh and a shrug after Elizabeth had finished explaining her conversation with Jack in alternating bouts of tears and anger.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth blew her nose into a piece of gardener's cloth and assumed that she must have misunderstood what the woman had said.

"Zhat ees what Jacques ees afraid of. Zhe tree. Zhe apple."

 _Why does she speak so cryptically?! Can't she just say what she means? . . . . . Not that I'd probably understand her English anyway. And how does she look so beautiful all the time?_

Elizabeth had expected a little sympathy. Maybe some advice. She certainly hadn't expected to have her relationship described as fallen ripe fruit. _Is every conversation tonight going to be bewildering?!_

"Are you saying I'm the apple? That I'll be like my father? Always interested in making money. Is that what Jack's afraid of? That I can't let go of my fancy lifestyle. Because I'm nothing like that", Elizabeth said indignantly. "If Jack is afraid that all I care about is money and high society like my family, he doesn't know me at all! The fool."

" _You_ are not zhe apple. _Jacques_ ees zhe apple," Lori said simply as she continued measuring out plant food and distributing it among the trees, bushes, and other vegetation.

"Jack is the apple?" a clearly puzzled Elizabeth asked.

"But of course. Surely, you must see zhat. Zhat ees why he ended zhings with you after his space walk. Because he worries zhat zhe apple does not fall far from zhe tree. Now I must go and change my grow lights," Lori said with a pleasant smile and another shrug as she gathered her supplies and walked out the door without any further explanation.

* * *

 _What the heck? Jack is the apple?_

 _What does that make me?_ _The worm that gets squashed to nothing when it fell_? she thought irritably.

 _Why am I even bothering talking to a horticulturist?!_

Despite thinking that the sexy horticulturist with the thick accent had a strange idea of relationships, Elizabeth found herself pondering what the woman had said.

 _If Jack is an apple, then his father must be tree._

 _But what's wrong with that? From everything Jack said his father was wonderful. He would want to be just like him._

 _Stupid Lori and her apple tree idiom!_ Elizabeth thought in frustration. _An apple doesn't fall far from the tree! What does that have to do with anything?!_

 _Why is Jack afraid of being like his father? And what does that have to do with me?_

Elizabeth wiped away her newly forming tears, pushed the elevator's red button causing it to stop immediately, and tried to remember what Jack had told her about his father.

 _His mom and dad met when they were young and fell in love right away. They had two kids. . . . They were happy. They were in love. . . . His father was in law enforcement like Jack. His mother was a teacher like me. His father was gone a lot. He loved his career. . . ._

 _And then his father died suddenly on an assignment._

 _Oh, my goodness!_

 _His father died and left his mother heartbroken! And she raised both boys by herself and never wanted to marry anyone or fall in love every again._

 _Is that what Lori meant? That after the spacewalk, Jacques – I mean Jack – was worried that if we get serious, he'll be gone a lot and may die one day and leave me heartbroken?_

 _That one day, he'll have to choose between a career that he loves and me?_

For the first time since her conversation with Jack, Elizabeth wasn't either angry or heartbroken. She had a glimmer of understanding.

 _I suppose it's possible._

* * *

That night, Elizabeth realized it was impossible.

It was impossible not to want to kiss Jack. Not to want more than friendship and being roommates with him.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that everything made sense.

She and Jack had been getting along so well, he had gone on a dangerous mission, and she had been there with two little boys to welcome him back. _It must have reminded him of his own family growing up! How his dad would come home to Charlotte and the two boys._

Elizabeth thought about how it must have looked to Jack when he came back from his spacewalk. She had been worriedly waiting for him to walk in the door. The boys had been excitedly standing by. And the four of them had all walked down the hall to put the two boys to bed. Like a family.

 _He's ending things before history can be repeated. He's worried if I can handle being with a Defense Force officer._

 _At least I hope that was the reason, and it wasn't that he decided he just doesn't like me all that much. Gosh, that'd be disappointing._

Elizabeth realized that now, if ever, was a time to be strong-willed.

As she lay in her berth, she could hear Jack as he tossed restlessly in his own berth.

She was determined to get him back. He cared about her more than he was willing to admit to her - that was now obvious to her.

She also knew that trying to rationally discuss this with him was useless. He was a man; shy about his feelings, proud, and tending to think practically rather than correctly. He would just be obstinate and insist he was doing what was best for both of them. She needed a plan.

 _Every good plan needs a good name. I'll start there._

 _ **Operation JET** \- _**_J_** _ack and_ ** _E_** _lizabeth_ ** _T_** _ogether_

 _ **Operation TNT** – _**T** _hatcher_ ** _N_** _eeds_ ** _T_** _hornton, . . . . or_ ** _T_** _hornton_ ** _N_** _eeds_ ** _T_** _hatcher_

 _ **Operation HEART** \- _**_H_** _elp_ ** _E_** _lizabeth_ ** _A_** _cquire a_ ** _R_** _ebelling_ ** _T_** _hornton_

 _Ooh, that's a good one._

After another fifteen minutes, Elizabeth let out a long sigh. She had way too much time on her hands. And way too little Jack.

 _Aw, the heck with a good name. I just need a good plan!_

 _I am a grown woman. A teacher. An adventurer. And according to Jack, I have hubris. Excessive pride or self-confidence. Well Jack, I have no excessive pride about this situation, but I do have confidence. I am going to get you back!_

* * *

Over the next few days, Elizabeth put her plan into action. And although her plan didn't have a catchy acronym, she had every intention of making it successful.

"Operation Let Him Know What He's Missing."

It was actually quite simple. She just needed to be what he wanted. A friend and roommate. Pleasant. Cooperative. No demands. If Jack thought that they could go back to being just be friends and roommates, she would subtly let him know that he had to have more.

There was only one thing that Elizabeth refused to do. She wouldn't try to make Jack jealous by flirting with other men. She wouldn't toy with his feelings to that extent. This was about the two of them. No one else.

But, with a little imagination, there were still plenty of other things she could do as a friend and roommate.

* * *

She dropped her bra – the one in deep navy with a lace trim -in front of him. Accidentally, of course. And then she nonchalantly asked him if he could throw it onto her bed because her hands were full.

She was seemingly so tired one night that she forgot to close her curtain when she fell asleep. Allowing him to see her angelic face as she lay with her hair fanned out on her pillow.

One morning, when he was sitting on his bottom berth, she reached up to the top one to straighten her sheets. Finding it too hot to wear sweatpants, she was wearing tiny shorts which were barely decent as she stood on her tiptoes and stretched her lean body to reach the corners of the mattress. Putting her smooth bare legs on display for him.

After her shower yesterday, she left the door ajar when she was wrapped in just a towel while she brushed her teeth. To get the steam out of the bathroom, naturally.

* * *

Jack tried to be casual as he had picked up her lacy bra and held it in his hands, looking at fabric and automatically thinking of her breasts, before putting it on her berth.

He fought the desire to reach over and gently kiss her goodnight when he saw her sleeping.

He wanted to avert his gaze when he saw her bare legs, but he couldn't. So instead he sat on his hands to keep his fingers from reaching out and running along her thighs.

He politely closed the bathroom door to give her privacy. And then gently banged his head against it in frustration.

* * *

"Guys, can one of you help?" Elizabeth asked as she walked in through the door with a towel draped around her waist. Her wet swimsuit clung to her body and beads of water dripped to the floor from her hair. "My hair is tangled in one of my suit straps."

Seth, Carl, and Jack all looked in her direction from their positions in their berths as she took off the towel and hung it on a hook on the wall.

Carl mumbled something which sounded like a refusal as he concentrated on entering data into his laptop computer, and Seth outright refused.

"You help her, Jack. My daughter screams when I try to detangle her hair. I'm not going there."

Elizabeth stood with her back to Jack, moved most of her wet hair over one of her shoulders, and expectedly presented her bare neck and other shoulder to him.

He paused for a moment and realized that if he refused, it would seem unfriendly and just make things awkward. Elizabeth had been remarkably good about going back to being friends; he didn't want to ruin that.

Jumping down from his berth, he began fumbling with the half-inch wide piece of hair that was tangled on the metal clasp on the back of one of her straps. He tried not to touch the pale damp bare skin but his fingers brushed over it as he struggled to release her from her suit.

"This is really tangled. How the heck did you manage to do this?" he asked in surprise when he realized it may take a while to pull the strands of hair out of their entrapment.

"I have no idea. Just the hair swirling in the water as I swam, I guess," Elizabeth answered with a shrug. _And ten minutes of purposely knotting it back there so you would have to be close to me._

"Can we sit down? My legs are tired. From all that swimming."

Jack hesitated and pretended not to notice the sideways glances that Seth and Carl both gave him. He had already informed the skeptical men that he wanted nothing but friendship from Elizabeth. As long as he could keep from being too close to her, he would be fine. Or so he told himself .

Without waiting for a response, Elizabeth maneuvered herself down onto the bottom berth; forcing Jack to sit with her if he didn't want to be responsible for yanking off a chuck of her long hair.

He tried not to react as her derriere gently nestled against one of his upper thighs leaving it damp from her suit, but he couldn't deny that he loved her backside.

"I think I scratched myself when I was trying to get free. Do you see anything?" Elizabeth moved her head and tried to look over her shoulder.

"Just a small mark. You're good. Hold still. The more you move, the harder it is to untangle you."

"Sorry," Elizabeth replied, but a few seconds later she had already seemed to have forgotten his admonishment and she moved to reach for her messenger bracelet and put it back on her wrist.

"Elizabeth, if you keep moving, I'll never get you untangled."

"Sorry", she replied innocently as she enjoyed Jack's warm breath on her neck.

Seth noticed a small smile on her lips but he didn't say anything. He had a wife; which meant that he knew full well what a woman was capable of when she set her mind on something.

"You're getting your berth wet," Jack noted as he tried not to think about her soft pale perfect bare shoulder which his lips were dangerously close to kissing.

He shifted his gaze from her shoulder, and the tiny birthmark behind her ear began mesmerizing him.

"No I'm not."

Jack smiled. "Yes, you are. Your suit is wet and now your blanket is all wet. It may have even soaked through to the sheet."

Elizabeth bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing aloud. "Actually it's your blanket and sheet. You were sitting on my berth when I came in. We switched yesterday, remember?"

"Darn. I forgot about that."

"Don't worry. I'll sleep down here. You go ahead and keep the top berth this week. I just used the sheets for one night."

"Are you sure?

"Definitely. I got this all wet. I'll take it."

* * *

Jack couldn't fall asleep. Everything in the upper berth smelled faintly like Elizabeth. The orange-ginger scent of her moisturizing facial bar remained on the pillow.

Unable to keep his head resting on it and still continue to fight the desire to jump down into her berth to kiss her, he threw the pillow to the foot of the bed and lay back on the hard mattress. When he turned onto his side, his nose inhaled the lingering scent of the eucalyptus bar she liked to rub on her arms to combat the dryness of the transporter.

 _Even the sheets smell like her._ He sighed and wondered if he had made the wrong decision in ending their romance. Getting over her was not going to be easy.

When he moved his foot, one of his toes touched something hidden in the sheets. Reaching down, he fumbled in the darkness and pulled it out. He didn't need to see it to know what it was. One of her socks. He knew that when she went to bed, she liked to take off her socks under the covers by using just her toes. He imagined how she looked last night doing it. Squirming in her panties and tee-shirt as one foot maneuvered off the sock from the other. For some reason, the image made him inwardly groan in frustrated desire.

Elizabeth slept wonderfully.

Her last thought before she closed her eyes was that she knew Seth and Carl wouldn't tell Jack that earlier in the day when he had left the room, she had taken her moisturizing bars and rubbed them repeatedly on the sheets of the upper berth. And then put a sock in the foot of the bed.

* * *

Jack and Elizabeth were barely ever alone as Jack tried to avoid any awkwardness, but for the brief moments they were, Elizabeth was friendly. Happy. Pleasant. He again noticed that it seemed as if she had gotten over their break-up remarkably well. In fact, she seemed to be doing better than him. The morning after their break-up, she had told Jack that she understood his position and much to his shock, she had actually apologized for getting angry at him.

They were friends. Roommates. Nothing more. And it was driving him crazy.

It was worse than before. Before they had ever had their first kiss, he had thought about kissing her and he had wanted to kiss her, but he hadn't know exactly what he was missing. Now, he knew.

He knew the taste of her mouth. The taste of her skin. He knew that her knees buckled when he ran his hand along her back and kissed her mouth passionately at the same time. He knew that she loved to have him breathe in her ear and when he did, she became more aroused. He knew that when they sat together and he traced patterns on her arm, she would lie down and pull him to her.

Now he knew what he was missing.

As much as he wanted to be with her, Jack reminded himself that he had made the right decision. It was selfish to get involved with her when he didn't know what his future held.

But still . . .when they were at their usual cafeteria table and she was laughing at someone's joke or telling a story about her day, he found himself staring at her and wanting to touch her. Wanting her to be his. Wanting to be selfish.

He again told himself that as long as he could keep from kissing her, he would be okay.

While Elizabeth seemed to be enjoying her days teaching her few students, sending holograms to Coal Valley, and spending time with Abigail and other friends she had made on the transporter, Jack spent his free time in the fitness center.

But hours of swimming laps, lifting weights, and running on the treadmill didn't take his mind off of Elizabeth or his investigation.

* * *

The diners at the table broke out in laughter as Elizabeth told another one of her stories – this one about one of her family properties where they allowed wild horses to roam.

Rather than try to pretend her wealthy background and family didn't exist, she had found a way to make her high-society upbringing a source of humor for the other passengers. With a smile on her face, she turned to look at Jack.

"Jack, you would have loved it. Horses everywhere. If you get back to Earth before me, you should go. Just give them my name. That goes for all of you," she added in a friendly voice as she looked around the table. "Bud, you can practice that lassoing you were talking about. And Seth, I promise, they'll have a tame pony for your daughter to ride."

Jack didn't know how she could handle their break-up so well. _Maybe she didn't care that much about u_ s, he wondered with a frown. _Maybe I was the only one who was getting serious. No, she cared about me just as much. The way she kissed me. . . ._

He pierced a piece of fruit with his fork and bit into it. Even finding something to eat had become more difficult. Eating eggs was out of the question because they reminded Jack of his first encounter with Elizabeth and how he teased her about her frozen eggs. Pastries of any sort were out of the question as they just reminded him of when Elizabeth had defended herself after having been called a tart. And eating oatmeal, grits, mashed potatoes, or anything soft reminded him of how he had thought to himself that he didn't want a woman to turn him into mush.

He ended up simply avoiding any meal that reminded him of Elizabeth.

 _I'm going to starve to death because of her._

 _Just let me get through the next month without kissing her. I'll get over her. I'll get transferred back to Earth. And that will be the end of it. She'll stay in Coal Valley and I'll go home to Canada or maybe somewhere else. Damn, I miss her._

* * *

After five days of friendship, Elizabeth decided that her plan wasn't going quickly enough and it was time to step up her game.

 _Desperate times call for desperate measures._

 _Okay, maybe I'm not desperate._

 _Oh, heck. Yes, I am._

* * *

"Hi, Jack", Elizabeth said pleasantly when she stopped by his office. "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure, what's up?" Jack responded. He pushed a button on the large screen on his wall and the image disappeared.

"I need to borrow something. You said that roommates can borrow things from each other."

"Of course. What do you need?"

"First tell me if I can borrow it?" she said with a smile.

"You gonna tell me what it is?"

"After you decide if I can borrow it."

"How can I know if you can borrow it until I know what it is?" he chuckled.

"You have to trust me. You do trust me, don't you?"

Jack raised his eyebrows but she saw a twinkle in his eyes when he answered. "I'm not so sure. Should I?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Yes, I always keep my word."

"And I have your word that you need to borrow this?"

"Yep."

"What if I need it and I've already loaned it to you?" he challenged.

"I promise I'll return it. Whenever you want. So? Can I borrow it?"

Jack chuckled again and shook his head at her playfulness. "Yes, you can borrow it."

"Promise?"

"I promise", he said with a grin. "Now what is so important of mine that you want to borrow it?"

Elizabeth moved closer to him. Standing just two inches in front of him, she gently reached out her hand and touched his cheek.

"A kiss," she said softly. "I want to borrow a kiss. And you can get it back whenever you want."

Without giving him a chance to refuse, Elizabeth stood up on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his.

It was sweet and lovely. A perfect kiss which somehow managed to convey tenderness, affection, and desire.

When she broke away, Elizabeth gave him a soft smile. "See you around, roomie."

The metal door slid open as she walked towards it, but before she could walk out entirely, Jack reached out and gently grabbed her by the arm.

"I know you just borrowed it, but I'm going to need it back right now", he said huskily as he pulled her to him. "With interest."

* * *

 **Dear Readers, I like to post frequently, but I'm going to be out of the country for two weeks of vacation. Please check out my many other stories under the name woolenslipper and jellybean49 while I'm gone if you've never read them (or even if it's been a while!** **😊)**

 **And if you want me to continue this story when I get back, just let me know.** 😊


	17. Chapter 17 - eye opening revelations

**Dear Readers: Thanks for all you comments after the last chapter!**

 **CHAPTER 17 – EYE OPENING REVELATIONS**

An hour after Elizabeth had borrowed a kiss from Jack, Carl walked into their living quarters and stopped short, causing Seth, who was walking behind him, to bump into his back.

"Oops. Sorry", the microbiologist apologized when he saw the two intertwined bodies on one of the bottom berths.

Jack, taken by surprise by the voice, scrambled off of Elizabeth who had been lying underneath his body. Trying to act like he and Elizabeth had not just been passionately kissing each other, he stood up from the berth – bumping his head in his haste, tucked his tee-shirt back into his pants, and pushed his tousled hair out of his face.

Carl averted his eyes from the disheveled couple and began nonchalantly whistling a tune while Seth moved over to his locker and put away his laptop. "I hope you two are using protection or you're going to have little alien babies," he warned as he closed the metal door.

Jack rubbed his head where he had bumped it, and looked at Seth in disgust. "We were not having sex and we are not going to have little alien babies."

"Sorry for you about the first part. Happy about the second part." Seth replied with a laugh.

"I don't know," Carl replied. "Who knows what happens to our reproductive organs when we're out here hurtling through space? It might be kind of cute if we were the godparents to little alien babies. We would be the godparents, right? I mean we are your roommates."

"We are not having alien babies!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she sat up and straightened her shirt. She and Jack had spent ten minutes in the security office kissing, and then had made their way back to the empty living quarters to continue getting physically reacquainted after five days apart.

"Not yet at least. First you have to have sex", Seth knowingly informed her with a chuckle.

"Shut up, you guys."

Carl ignored Elizabeth's order and turned to Seth. "I thought we had ground rules here. Roommates couldn't be more than friends inside the living quarters. And no one has over-night guests. Wasn't that the rule?"

"That's the only reason we're not hooking up. That and I have a beautiful wife and daughter. And I'm not attracted to you," Seth replied.

"Nah, it's because I had my eye on Jack. He's cuter than you. But Elizabeth got to him first."

"Shut up, guys", Jack ordered the teasing men.

"Maybe they want us to watch them. You know, like that S and M talent show act that Elizabeth was working on," Carl suggested to Seth.

"SHUT UP!" Jack and Elizabeth said in unison.

Jack turned to Elizabeth, who was now actually trying to stifle a giggle.

"Come on," he said as he reached out a hand to her. "We need to talk."

"Nope", she said with a shake of her head. I don't like when you talk. Last time you broke up with me."

Jack chuckled. "I am never going to make the same mistake again. But we do need to talk."

Despite having been alone together for the past hour, the couple had done little in the way of talking and Jack had yet to explain his relationship concerns to Elizabeth. Her borrowed kiss had had its intended effect in that all reason had temporarily left his mind.

Carl stepped in front of Jack and blocked him and Elizabeth from leaving the room. "Sorry, can't let you do that, Jack."

"What are you talking about?"

"You made me and Seth promise that we would stop you from getting involved again with Elizabeth."

Elizabeth, who had slipped on her shoes, sat back on the berth and looked at the three men in surprise. "You what?"

"Now Elizabeth, it's not how it sounds," a somewhat embarrassed Jack began to explain but he was cut off by Seth.

"You said we shouldn't leave you two alone too much or you'd fall under her spell again," Seth reminded Jack, who gave him a stern look in return.

"Under my spell? Like I'm a witch?!"

"Try to think of yourself as more of an enchantress," Seth suggested helpfully as he pretended that he didn't notice Jack glaring at him.

"Well, that is much better," Elizabeth readily admitted as she pondered the interesting idea of being an enchantress. "What else did he say?"

"Nothing. I didn't say anything else." Jack moved to take Elizabeth's hand but she remained sitting on the berth in no hurry to leave as she had started to find this conversation intriguing.

"Yes, you did", Carl corrected Jack. "You said that it would never work out between you two because she has too much money." Now it was Carl's turn to ignore Jack's steely glare.

"Do you?" Carl looked to Elizabeth for confirmation of her finances.

"I do have quite a bit."

"More than five million?"

"In North American dollars, Euros, or Shekels?" Elizabeth pleasantly inquired in the manner of someone responding to an ordinary question about their day.

"Does it matter?"

"Not really, I suppose," she replied after quickly doing some calculations in her head. "I have a lot but I'll give it all up," she offered with a smile. "What else did Jack say about me?"

"That you were distracting him," Seth remarked before Jack could shut him up.

"l certainly can't help that," a clearly flattered Elizabeth responded as she sat on the bed and flirtatiously tossed her hair over her shoulder.

It seemed that Carl, Seth, and Elizabeth all found the conversation quite enjoyable while Jack became more and more irritated with the turn of events. He had gone from the pleasurable position of lying on top of Elizabeth to suddenly feeling like he was under unwanted scrutiny.

"And that he wasn't sure that you really knew what you wanted in life," Carl piped in, causing Jack to practically growl at him.

"Now that's not true. I know exactly what I want. I want happiness in whatever shape or job or person which fulfills me."

Jack reached for Elizabeth's arm. "Great. Okay, enough of this conversation. Let's go."

Seth crossed his arms and stood in front of the door blocking it along with Carl. "He also said that he's in law enforcement which carries risks. Apparently, a lowly rock lover like me or a scientist who looks at tiny microbes like Carl couldn't possibly understand how such a job would affect a relationship. Never-mind the fact that we're all on the same damn spaceship facing the same risks. He seems to think he's the only one with a dangerous job or one that requires being gone from a family at times. In case he's forgotten, I'm away from my wife and daughter for four months with no way to get to them if they need me."

"Jack's in law enforcement?" Elizabeth feigned surprise. "I had no idea!. And Seth, we all know that you are missing your family. You mention it every day", she said with a poor attempt at sympathy. "But we're not talking about you. We're talking about Jack and how he needs two of his roommates to keep him away from the third."

"Enough!" Jack declared.

"No need to get upset, Jack. We're just having a nice conversation among friends and roommates," a smiling Elizabeth said as she finally stood up to go have a private talk with him. "Apparently, you think I am a rich clueless woman who keeps you from concentrating. How attractive. I must be quite the catch."

"It's not like that!" Jack exclaimed as Elizabeth took his hand in hers, and with her other hand motioned for Seth and Carl to move out of the way.

"Well I guess you can explain to me what it really was like."

Jack and Elizabeth were almost out the door when Carl's voice stopped Jack in his tracks. "It's not like you didn't do anything to get him back. You were mighty determined."

Elizabeth pretended not to hear as she tugged on Jack's hand when he turned back into the living quarters.

"What is he talking about? You took the whole break up really well. You didn't do anything to get me back. . . . Did you?" Jack asked when he noticed Elizabeth's guilty look.

She shrugged as she casually responded. "I may have innocently made you think about me."

" _Innocently_ made me think about you? How do you _innocently_ make someone think about you?" An intrigued Jack moved from the doorway and took a seat on the berth.

"Innocent. It means not guilty of a crime. You're the one in law enforcement. You should know that." Elizabeth pulled on his arm to get him to leave but Jack remained firmly seated.

"I know what innocent means. Usually. I want to know what it means in this case," a curious and now smiling Jack remarked.

"It simply means that I may have done some things to make you think of me in a non-platonic way."

"Give me an example."

"I can't think of one. Let's go." She pulled on his arm again.

"I can think of one," Seth volunteered.

"I can think of a dozen," Carl added dryly.

Elizabeth threw him a dirty look.

"How about when she woke up the other night and you were all worried that she had had another nightmare. You practically catapulted into her berth," Seth offered.

"She had a nightmare. She can't help that. I was comforting her. Like a good roommate," Jack explained with a perplexed look.

"She let you rub her back," a scornful Carl remarked.

"You guys comforted her when she had a nightmare weeks ago. So, this time I did it. What's the big deal?" Jack asked as he defended his reaction to the incident two nights earlier. He remembered how glad he had been that he had been the one to comfort her in the night.

"We _talked_ to her. That's all. You rubbed her back like a love-sick teenager. And she didn't even have a nightmare the other night, but she let you sit there and rub her back and tell her everything was okay," Seth replied.

"You didn't?"

"I _did_ let you rub my back", Elizabeth eagerly answered when Jack looked at her in disbelief.

"No. no. I mean the nightmare. You didn't have a nightmare?"

Elizabeth scrunched her face up as if rethinking the moment. "I had a scary thought that you weren't going to kiss me again. Does that count?"

"That's it?!"

"It was scary! I like your kisses."

An incredulous Jack looked at Seth and Carl. "How did you know it wasn't a real nightmare?"

Carl shook his head at Jack's gullibility. "Because when she had a nightmare before she didn't daintily sit up in bed and say 'oh my, that was scary'."

Elizabeth put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle at Carl's imitation of her voice.

"What else did she do?"

"Jack, it's really not important. Let's not bother our roommates anymore," Elizabeth said as she tugged on Jack's arm to get him to leave their living quarters.

"How about when she hurt her knee and you jumped to the rescue?"

Jack remained firmly on the berth but his eyebrows crinkled in confusion when Carl used his fingers to make quotation marks when he said the word 'hurt'.

"She was injured. Naturally I went to help her. I'm trained in basic first aid", Jack explained, but his voice sounded hesitant as he remembered the incident and noticed the expressions now on the faces of all three of the other people in the room.

"She wasn't injured!" Seth and Carl both exclaimed at the same time.

A confused Jack looked at Elizabeth and then back at the men. "She bumped her knee climbing out of the berth."

Carl scoffed. "Please. She barely even tapped the metal side of the bed. And you just had to feel her knee. Putting your hands on it."

"Weren't you hurt?" a bewildered Jack looked to Elizabeth.

"Define hurt."

"Hurt! Bruised. Wounded. In pain!"

Elizabeth pursed her lips in concentration for a second before responding. "No, I wasn't hurt. Not by that definition."

"Is there another definition?! "

"I'm not a thesaurus but I'm sure there is", she responded airily.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "And you guys knew about this? That she was tempting me?"

"It was kind of hard to miss. For a man in law enforcement, you can be kind of clueless, Jack."

"Is this true? That you've been tempting me for days?" He turned to Elizabeth who was casually twirling a long curl around her finger. Suddenly Jack remembered the incident with the swimsuit and he silently questioned if she had purposely tangled her hair that day. _Impossible. It was too knotted. She wouldn't have done that on purpose_. . . _Or would she?_ he wondered for the first time.

Elizabeth smiled broadly. "All's fair in love and war."

"This isn't war", he said with a stern look as if reprimanding a small child.

Elizabeth bit her bottom lip to suppress a smile and simply shrugged.

"Then it must be the other one", Carl muttered causing Elizabeth to smile even broader and Jack to blush.

"Come on. We need to go." A pink-cheeked Jack avoided looking at Seth and Carl as he stood up and pulled Elizabeth to her feet.

* * *

The couple moved down the corridor without saying a word. Jack, who seemed preoccupied, kept his hand on Elizabeth's arm and she hurried to keep pace with him.

As they turned a corner, a nearby door slid open and crew members poured into the hallway as a training session let out. The men and women were chattering loudly as they moved past Jack and Elizabeth in the narrow hallway.

Elizabeth was grateful when one of the engineers asked Jack a question because it caused him to stop and allowed her a brief chance to catch her breath.

"You're not angry, are you?" she asked after Jack quickly had answered the engineer and they had begun their fast-pace walk again.

"No, I'm not angry."

"Are you going to arrest me?"

Jack stopped walking and looked at her in bewilderment. "Why in the world would I arrest you?"

"I don't know. You have that authoritative professional look about you."

"I am not going to arrest you, you goose."

"Then why are we hurrying to your office?"

"We need privacy. That's why."

A moment later, they reached the security office and Jack buzzed open the door. They entered the small room which was filled with monitors displaying scenes of the transporter. The door had barely closed behind them when Jack gently pushed Elizabeth up against the wall and leaned into her.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he moved his mouth towards hers.

"Kissing you", he said simply even though an explanation wasn't actually needed.

"I know that much, but I thought we needed to talk," she reminded him.

Although, if she had been asked about her preference, she would have readily admitted that she preferred kissing him to a serious conversation about the potential pitfalls of their relationship. Especially right now when his body was dangerously close to making her forget how to speak.

"We do need to talk."

"Then why are you going to kiss me?"

"Because you are so darn tempting", he murmured in her ear.

"So no talking?"

"We're going to talk but I'm just getting some of my loan back before we do. If you remember correctly, you borrowed a kiss."

Elizabeth laughed and tried to focus but it was getting hard to do as Jack's warm lips found her neck. "You've had plenty of kisses since then."

"For a Thatcher, you're not a very good business woman."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You borrowed a kiss and never bothered to ask what I'd charge in interest."

Elizabeth laughed again, then pushed Jack away slightly and looked him in the eye. "What's the interest rate?"

"Three thousand percent."

"Three thousand percent?!"

"Yep."

"Three thousand percent?" she asked again with raised eyebrows.

"You should have asked before you borrowed a kiss."

"Does everyone get the same interest rate?"

"Nope. Just you. And it's too late to change it now. Unless you refinance. And I'd have to agree to those terms," he explained as he moved in closer. His tongue traveled up to her earlobe causing her to sigh while the movement of his hand caused her to gasp.

"You know there are laws against high interest rates," she managed to say as she closed her eyes in pleasure. "Usury laws."

"You can use me all you want", he replied huskily just before his mouth took possession of hers.

* * *

The kiss was longer than a peck. But still too short. If she had to guess, Elizabeth would have estimated it as having lasted ten seconds. A glorious ten seconds. But still only ten seconds.

She heard herself give an involuntary whimper when Jack pulled his mouth away.

"How much more do I owe you?" she asked breathlessly.

"At least another two thousand five hundred. But first we'll talk."

"We don't have to talk", she offered hopefully as she touched her finger to her lips and tried to savor the feeling of his kisses.

Jack moved away from her, opened his laptop, gestured for her to take a seat, and declared firmly, "First we talk."

 **UP NEXT: The Talk**


	18. Chapter 18 - The Talk

**CHAPTER 18 – THE TALK**

"Do you think it was murder?" Elizabeth asked.

She and Jack had been in the security office for thirty minutes and, as Jack had demanded, they had talked. Without any more kissing.

Jack had done most of the talking and the conversation had focused on his work rather than their romantic relationship.

After their time kissing in their living quarters, Elizabeth was confident about Jack's feelings for her and that he wouldn't be unilaterally ending their relationship.

Rather than discuss the potential pitfalls of a relationship between a middle-class defense officer and a high-society school teacher, he had explained to her the details of his investigation into the numerous malfunctions on the transporter over the last three months and the accident which caused him to have to make the space-walk last week.

"I can't prove anything. The tethering piece broke off sending the guy, and it, into space so I can't examine it to see if it was tampered with."

"And you think he was getting paid to somehow mess with the ship and he wouldn't keep quiet any longer? So he had to be gotten rid of?" Elizabeth interrupted.

She had already promised Jack that anything he told her would not leave this room. Incredibly, even though they had only known each other for just over three months, Jack and Elizabeth trusted each other completely.

"The guy's bank account information arrived a few days ago. He was definitely getting money from more than just his job. But I don't know the source yet. It could have been something legitimate."

"But I still don't see why would someone would want to mess with the ship."

"Revenge. Hostile takeover. Competition among builders. Your family's company has a monopoly on building space transporters. If the company gets a bad reputation, other companies can move in and get some government contracts. That's lucrative business."

"So, either someone on the ship murdered him by having him float off into space or there's the other possibility - the piece broke off accidentally and his death was unintentional."

"Right."

"And if it broke off accidentally, it means my father's company made a transporter with faulty parts. A part that shouldn't have broken off caused a man's death. Because someone at Thatcher Enterprises was cutting corners, trying to save money, paying off inspectors. Because profit was more important than lives."

Jack nodded grimly. "You have to admit that the transporter's been having problems since day one. More than previous ships according to the records I've looked at and my talks with crew members. The gravitational fluctuations, the power outages, temperature problems, people getting sick, my cameras not properly recording. Either the transporter's a piece of garbage or someone's tampering with it. I've been checking into the transporter contracts, but it's so darn hard when we're light years away from Earth."

"Do you think my father has personal knowledge of faulty workmanship? If that's what it is?"

"What do you think?"

Jack held his breath waiting for her answer. This had been one of his biggest concerns - how she would react to his investigation into her father. So far, she hadn't yelled or thrown anything. Or called him an idiot.

"He can't possibly know every detail of the company."

Elizabeth hesitated before continuing. "But he does pride himself on his involvement in every department, reviewing the contracts, hiring the staff."

"I'm going to be honest with you –"

"I appreciate that. Because if you're weren't honest, I would have to hit you upside the head", Elizabeth explained.

Jack's forehead crinkled as he narrowed his eyes and gave her an odd look.

"Or withhold kisses. I'm actually against violence," she admitted when she saw his expression.

"You're not going to do either. I like my head just fine, and I like your kisses too. Now can we get back to what I wanted to be honest with you about?"

Elizabeth gestured for him to continue.

"There's something that puzzles me. I've been going over your father's accounts as much as I can. He's been transferring sums of money to a couple companies that seem legit. But one company seems off. It has no employees. And apparently, he's not getting anything in return. If this is an investment, it makes no sense. The company doesn't do anything."

"Why would he do that?"

"Maybe your father is purposely trying to drive down shares so he can buy them back cheaply under another name and retain more of a majority. This phantom company could be the front to buy them at a low price."

"What kind of company is it?"

"I can't tell. I'm limited in what I can research from here. As near as I can tell, it makes nothing, buys nothing, sells nothing."

"That's impossible. It has to do something. My father wouldn't be just putting money there for no reason."

Jack shrugged.

"What's the name? I know most of my dad's investments."

Jack pulled up the data on his computer and moved closer to Elizabeth. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled. He had to admit that he liked having her as a partner. He had missed being able to talk to her about things.

"It's called Extraterrestrial, Inc."

Elizabeth snorted in laughter.

"What's so funny? That's the name." Jack asked as he looked curiously at Elizabeth.

"I know. But it's not some nefarious company. It's me."

"You? What are you talking about?"

"I'm the Extraterrestrial."

Jack gave her an exasperated look. "What is it with aliens and alien babies? You are not an extraterrestrial, Elizabeth. What you need is some more oxygen."

Elizabeth laughed again. "It's my company. Extraterrestrial. E.T." she said with a smile. "Those are my initials. E.T. stands for Extraterrestrial but it also stands for Elizabeth Thatcher. My dad wanted to give me an allowance and I refused. I'm far too old for that. But my mother insisted, and I am entitled to interest from my trust funds. I had a company set up to receive the money. I don't touch it. And you're right. It doesn't sell or make anything. It's just to hold my money. I named it after my initials."

"But why not just put the money in a bank account, like most people?"

"That's Julie's fault. When she got her first mini-transporter she was quite dangerous. My father was worried that she was setting up the family for a lawsuit. He drilled it into us that excess funds should be kept in a limited liability corporation. The money's just sitting there. He doesn't have access to it. Only I do. And I don't want it now. I'm trying to do things on my own."

"Not everything on your own." Jack smiled and Elizabeth saw a twinkle in his eyes. "I seem to recall that you like to be with me. Touching me. Kissing me. Me touching you. Kissing you."

"Concentrate, Jack," Elizabeth warned when Jack moved closer. "We are trying to solve a mystery."

"Fine", Jack grumbled as he sat back down on the desk and looked at his notes. "Well, that knocks that company out of suspicion. Maybe I should have talked to you about this sooner."

"It probably would have been a good idea. . . . Not that I'm telling you how to do your job," she added hurriedly when he raised his eyebrows at her.

 _Although, honestly, we could have avoided a lot of problems if you had!_ , she thought to herself.

* * *

After another twenty minutes, Jack and Elizabeth gave up trying to solve the mystery of the transporter for the time being. Elizabeth knew nothing of any importance about her family's other investments or business dealings, and the couple was now sitting on the floor in front of one of the transporter's large floor to ceiling windows on Level 3. Jack set his drink onto the floor next to the left-overs of their late-night picnic dinner.

Elizabeth was sitting in front of Jack. Nestled between his strong legs with his knees propped up on either side of her. Her back rested against his chest.

"No shooting stars tonight," she noted wistfully.

"We don't need them." Jack murmured contently.

He moved his hands along Elizabeth's arms, caressing her skin as he appreciated having the back of her head relaxing against his right shoulder. He lowered his face and enjoyed the smell of her hair. Everyone on the ship used the exact same brands of shampoo and conditioner which were in dispensers attached to the shower-stall walls but for some reason Jack didn't notice the lingering fresh scent on anyone but her.

"You know, you hurt me," she said quietly as she stared straight ahead through the window at the blackness of the galaxy with the twinkling stars of a constellation in the distance.

"When?"

"When you said you wanted to stop being involved."

"Really?" he asked in puzzlement. "I know you were mad at first but then I thought you were okay. You seemed fine."

"I was when I figured out why you broke things off. Or at least I hoped I had figured things out. But before then, it hurt."

Jack paused as he took in what she had said.

"Define hurt." His soft tone carried his regret that he had done something that caused him to ask.

"Tears. Confusion. The inability to breathe normally. An overwhelming sense of sorrow masked by anger."

A guilty Jack lowered his head.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't ready for a serious relationship. At least I didn't think I was. It took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting anything when I took this assignment. And then I met you and you kind of knocked me off my feet. . . . And with my job, and your family, it just seemed so complicated. I thought I was doing what was best. For both of us."

"It doesn't have to be complicated. It can just be what we make it. You and me."

"If your father is involved with this transporter business, I can't overlook that. Not even for you. It could get messy."

Elizabeth tilted her head to look at Jack. "I'm not my father and I'm not my father's company. I don't think he's involved in any way, but if he is, I wouldn't expect you to overlook it."

"You don't know how much that means to me," Jack said as Elizabeth nestled her back against him again.

"And I'm not some delicate little thing even if you think I am."

"I like delicate", he said as he nuzzled his cheek in her hair.

"We make our own futures, Jack. I love my family and I like the lifestyle I have with them, but I'm more than that. Honesty and integrity are more important than any amount of money."

Any remaining tension in Jack's face evaporated at her words. "You're very smart, Elizabeth Thatcher," he said solemnly in her ear. "That must be why you're such a good teacher."

Elizabeth would have responded to the compliment but she was once again rendered speechless by Jack's fingers as they moved her hair out of the way providing clear access for his lips to press against the bare skin of her neck. She sighed at the warmth of his mouth as he tasted her.

* * *

"Just friends inside," Elizabeth said with a weak smile as she and Jack stood outside the door of their living quarters later that night.

She leaned against the wall next to the sliding door and held both of his hands in hers. Their fingers intertwined as they delayed going inside. Elizabeth felt like she and Jack were in high-school and her parents were waiting inside the door to make sure she was home by her curfew.

"I miss you already."

Jack bent his face down and gently touched his lips to hers. It was so light and tender that Elizabeth knew it was the final kiss for the night.

A sweet goodnight kiss. Devoid of sexual passion. Full of affection and caring.

Jack moved away from her and passed his bracelet over the door sensor. When the door slid open revealing their small living compartment, they walked in.

Separately.

For now.

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 19**


	19. Chapter 19 - Slippers

**CHAPTER 19 - SLIPPERS**

"It is not Abigail. Don't be silly."

"I know she's your friend, but I have to consider it," Jack argued.

He and Elizabeth were sitting at a corner table in the Cafeteria eating breakfast the next day and discussing possible saboteurs on the transporter when Jack had offered up Abigail's name.

"She's a sweetheart. Anyone that can make croissants this delicious, cannot be devious."

"Are you eating a chocolate filled one?" Jack asked as he peered at the pastry in Elizabeth's hands.

Elizabeth pulled off a piece and handed it to Jack, who promptly popped it into his mouth.

He looked around to make sure that no one was in earshot of their conversation but most of the diners had already finished and left the room.

"Look, you don't know everything about her. You've only known her three months. Just because you like to get together and gossip with her doesn't mean you know her that well."

"I've only known _you_ three months and I'd say I know you pretty well. So, I think we both agree that time is relative."

"Point taken. But you know me pretty well because in addition to talking, we've been spending a lot of time doing something else - kissing. And as far as I know, you haven't been making out with Abigail."

Elizabeth ignored his jab and licked a dollop of chocolate off her fingers. "And Abigail and I don't gossip."

 _We talk about how absolutely delicious you are,_ she thought to herself.

"Think about it. Abigail's got to harbor some type of anger about the accident that killed her husband. If she can find a way to stop transporters from going to Coal Valley, it will shut down the colony."

"She wouldn't do anything devious," Elizabeth said adamantly.

"Revenge can be a pretty strong motivator. Don't you think it's a bit strange that she took a transporter home to Earth to bury her husband but then immediately turned around and got on this transporter to go back to Coal Valley. With no family there. No reason to be there."

"She told me once that Coal Valley has strong memories for her. Not just of her husband's death but of their life together. She said it was good life."

"A life on a barren desolate inhospitable outpost without any natural flora or fauna?" Jack said with a dubious look.

Elizabeth smirked. "You do realize that you basically said the same thing over and over again using different words, don't you?"

"The point is no one on this ship is above suspicion."

"Does that include me?" she teased.

"Not anymore," Jack answered seriously as he picked up his coffee and took a sip.

"Wait a minute. I was joking. Did you really consider me a suspect?"

Jack set down his cup, pushed back his chair, and gave her a smile. "I've got to talk to some more people," he said without answering her question. "I'll see you later."

* * *

Four hours later, Elizabeth sat on the edge of the infirmary's long metal examination table. Her right index fingertip rested on a sensor which almost instantaneously monitored her heart rate, pulse, and oxygen levels, while a sensor on her left wrist measured her blood pressure and skin hydration.

"Your skin looks good. Your hair's a little dry. That's to be expected on this transporter with the dry air. When you get to Coal Valley, it will be the opposite. Lots of moisture. Lots of rain in the bio-dome."

 _Darn, that will make my hair frizzy_ , Elizabeth thought to herself. _I've traveled millions of miles to a place with no hair-dresser_. _What was I thinking?_

"How's teaching going?" the doctor asked, just as he did at every visit. His own haircut had been growing out during the months on the transporter, revealing patches of grey which made him look ever more serious than he had on Elizabeth's prior required periodic check-ups.

"Good. My four students are great and I've been doing lessons to those in Coal Valley. I'm still sending a hologram almost every day. I've learned all their names and I'm anxious to meet them in person."

"Have you been keeping active enough?" he questioned as he removed the sensors from her body, and began wrapping several pulsating belts around her forearms, biceps, thighs, and lower legs.

"I think so," Elizabeth answered somewhat hesitantly. _Darn. I haven't been on the treadmill in ages._

"Aerobic activity?"

"Aerobic?"

"Any activity that you sustain for more than just a few minutes to allow your heart, lungs, and muscles to work overtime."

Elizabeth thought about her recent make-out session with Jack. _Does kissing count? Yes, it must._

"Yes, I've been very active. Definitely. Lots of aerobic activity", she said as she nodded her head.

"Getting your heart rate up?"

"Yep. Definitely." _Most most definitely! I'm probably in excellent shape!_

"Well, your weight is fine but you're lost five percent muscle tone", the doctor noted as he compared Elizabeth's statistics since she had arrived onboard. "It happens due to the lack of full gravity on the transporter."

 _Drat. I should have been attending those fitness classes. They were just so . . . .so . . . sweaty._

"You should be lifting weights." the doctor ordered as he removed the monitoring belts and deposited them in a box on his desk. "Keep it up when you get to Coal Valley. Otherwise, you'll get back to Earth in two years and you'll be a flabby mess."

"Okay", Elizabeth readily agreed. The last thing Elizabeth wanted to be when she returned to Earth was a flabby mess. She cringed at the idea.

"You're good friends with Abigail Stanton, aren't you?" the doctor asked as he gave Elizabeth an assessing look.

"Yes. I am." _Ooh, maybe he's single and interested in her; that's why he's asking if I'm her friend._ "She's very nice," Elizabeth added enthusiastically.

"You might want to lay off her croissants and other pastries. They're allowed in the menu because they remind people of indulgences back on Earth, but they provide little nutritional value", the man said critically.

Before Elizabeth could think of a response, the ship's doctor motioned for her to lie down on the table. The white sterile paper crinkled under her as she frowned and stretched out to allow the tactless man to run his biometer scanner across her left hip.

"Any side effects from your birth control implantation?" he asked as the device in his hand registered that Elizabeth still had twenty-one months of pregnancy prevention left in her body. Elizabeth watched as the numbers lit up on the small device.

"Nope."

The implantation had been mandatory for all females - although it was obvious to Elizabeth that the male passengers were oblivious to this given Seth's comments about the need for protection and alien babies, just as the freezing of embryos, the extensive physical and mental testing, and the inoculations had been mandatory prior to Elizabeth's approval for the two-year assignment to Coal Valley. The fact that she hadn't needed birth control was beside the point. The people going to Coal Valley were expected to maintain their physical fitness and to not waste the money that the government and private companies had invested in them by getting sick, or pregnant. Every precaution had been taken.

"Good. Any more cabin-fever?"

"No. Thankfully that only lasted the one day. A trip to the horticulture room cured me."

 _A trip with Jack. . . . I wonder what he's doing right now. Maybe we should have a picnic dinner among the trees tonight. I can grab a few things and surprise him. Of course, we'd probably end up kissing more than eating our food._ Elizabeth tried to suppress a smile at the thought.

"Any urinary problems? Vision problems? Auditory problems? Tinnitus?" the doctor asked, bringing Elizabeth's attention back to her examination. He spoke in a bored professional voice as he looked at the computer screen in front of him and began typing in information.

"No, no, no, and no."

"Any joint problems?

"No."

"Any lightheadedness?"

"Just when Jack kisses me."

"Excuse me?" the doctor turned from his screen and gave Elizabeth a quizzical look.

 _Damn! Did I say that aloud?!_

* * *

When Elizabeth entered her living quarters after her doctor's appointment, she said hello to Carl and his friend, whose name Elizabeth could never remember, who were both sitting on Carl's berth, and then took off her shoes in a disgruntled manner.

 _Lay off the croissants! Who is he to tell me to lay of the pastries? Okay, so maybe he's the doctor, but still, what does he know? French people eat croissants all the time and I've never seen a fat French person. The owner of Mode Salon back home in Hamilton is as skinny as a rail._

 _Look at Lori from Horticulture. With her tiny waist. Although,. . . . now that I think about it, she may not actually be French. I never have quite figured out that accent of hers._

 _Even French poodles aren't fat. Once you shave away their fur in that cute little style, they've got those skinny legs. Why, I've never even seen a –_

"Elizabeth?"

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Elizabeth turned to look at the woman in the tee-shirt staring at her.

"I said that we're going to meet up with Ensign Andrews. She's going to teach us how to salsa. And tango. And swing dance," Carl's friend said as she swayed her hips sideways in an exaggerated dance move. "You and Jack want to join us?"

"He's working."

"You want us to wait? See if he shows up soon?"

"He'll be a while. You have fun", Elizabeth replied.

She watched Carl sway his hips with his companion as they started for the door.

"Wait up a minute," Elizabeth called out as she stood up from her berth. "I changed my mind. I'll go with you. I don't need a partner, do I?" _More aerobic activity here I come. Weight lifting tomorrow._

"Course not. They'll be plenty of single people there. We'll find you a partner."

* * *

Four days later, Elizabeth sat on her berth in the late afternoon and tried to think of what to do. She had already sent a hologram lesson to her students in Coal Valley on division, helped her sole female student on the transporter write a book report - and was rewarded with a huge hug, sent a hologram to her family – being careful to avoid any mention of Jack or his investigation, gone for a short swim in the transporter's jet pool, and lifted weights in the fitness center.

There were still two hours until dinner and she was debating whether to take a nap- even though she really wasn't tired, or visiting Abigail.

The last four days had been wonderful. The closer they got to Coal Valley, the more excited Elizabeth was about her upcoming school work and living in a primitive colony. More importantly for her good mood was the fact that there had not been any more malfunctions on the transporter. It was beginning to look like all the prior incidents had just been bad luck.

Last night, she and Jack had visited the Propagation/Horticulture Plant nursery and Elizabeth had decided on the small tree which she eventually planned to decorate for Christmas. Jack had laughed and argued that the tree was so small it wouldn't be able to hold up a single ornament, but he had finally agreed that they would decorate it when the time came – if it survived transplanting in Coal Valley.

All was right in the galaxy.

Except her toes.

Elizabeth's dancing partners had turned out to be seven-year old Albert who kept mistaking Elizabeth's feet for the floor, and an overweight clumsy dentist who had wonderful teeth but no rhythm or ability to keep from stepping on Elizabeth's toes.

Elizabeth looked at the shoes in her hand and then dropped them to the floor, deciding instead to wear the slippers she and Jack had won when they had earned fourth place in the talent show when they had sung "Annie's Song."

As she slipped her feet into the soft woolen slippers, Elizabeth realized that in two weeks, she and Jack would no longer be sharing a room and wouldn't be able to share the footwear. Not that she had ever seen Jack wear them, but after all, they had won them together. It didn't seem fair that only she got to enjoy them.

 _I should get him his own pair!_

* * *

"The kind that the crew gets. We won a pair at the talent show. I'd like to keep them and get Jack a pair for himself," Elizabeth explained ten minutes later to the supply clerk. She was standing in the large inventory room on one of the lower levels of the transporter. "Probably a size medium."

"Sure. It seems only fair that you each get a pair. Unless Jack wants to wait and try to win another fourth place again on the return flight," the young clerk said with a friendly grin.

"I don't think he wants to wait two years", Elizabeth laughed.

"Two years? You mean two weeks. And two days." The clerk began walking down the aisle, scanning the shelves until he found the drawer labeled 'footwear'. He pulled out a pair of slippers, checked the size, and walked back to Elizabeth.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth questioned as she took the pair from him. _I must not have heard right_. "What did you say?"

"Two more weeks of flight time and then two days. That's all it takes to change out the fuel capacitors, check the inventory, and turn it around after we land. We'll have a talent show on the flight back, too. Maybe he'll get lucky and win another a pair."

"What are you talking about? Jack's not going back to Earth on the return flight. He's staying in Coal Valley."

"He's on the manifest. I just got an updated list two days ago. He was added to it." The man moved over to his computer and pushed a few buttons until an image with several dozen numbers appeared on the screen. "DL-1041981. That's his EC number isn't it?" the man asked.

A speechless Elizabeth stood there stunned as the man clicked some more buttons and a new image appeared on his screen. "Yep. That's him. Jack Thornton. Temporarily assigned to the Security Office. He's still on it."

"Does he know?" was all Elizabeth managed to say as she felt her pulse quicken.

"Sure. He gets a notification. And he was in here yesterday asking me questions about supplies onboard. I'm surprised he didn't tell you. Must have slipped his mind."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth sat dejectedly on a berth in Abigail's living quarters.

"What are you going to do?" Abigail asked after Elizabeth had tearfully explained that Jack wasn't staying on Coal Valley but was taking the transporter back to Earth.

"I'm going to act normal. Pretend that I don't know, and when he tells me, I'll be casual. I'll tell him that it was great getting to know him and I wish him all the best. I'll tell him that I didn't expect it to last. It was just a summer fling. A flight romance."

"We both know that's a lie, and you are not one to lie. Elizabeth, he loves you."

"I don't know."

"What do you mean? Hasn't he said it?" Abigail asked in surprise.

"Not in so many words", Elizabeth replied with a sad shrug.

"It's only three words", Abigail pointed out.

"We've never said it," Elizabeth admitted as she wiped away a tear. "I thought he was just taking his time because I thought we had plenty of time, but now I think it was because he knew that he might be leaving. That what we have won't go any further."

"What about you? Why haven't you told him that you love him? You do, don't you?"

Elizabeth nodded. She knew she loved him. She was old enough, and had had enough relationships, to know the difference between infatuation and love. This was love. There was no doubt about it. She had known it from the moment she heard he was on the space-walk. "I was waiting for him to tell me first."

"I have to believe that he cares very deeply for you."

"It doesn't matter now." Elizabeth took a deep breath and resolved to be strong. "He'll be leaving in two weeks, and that will be the end of it. I'm just going to hold my head up high and be mature about it. I'll thank him for a great trip and we'll hug and promise to always remember our good times."

* * *

"Hi everyone. Hi gorgeous," Jack said with a smile. He directed his second comment to Elizabeth as he sat down in the empty seat next to her at Cafeteria table.

Elizabeth gave him a friendly hello and then turned her attention back to the conversation she had been having with her table companions. At least she tried to pay attention to it but she missed half the discussion as she thought about was how Jack hadn't told her about his travel plans. He had known about them for two days. Two days during which they had held hands, kissed, laughed. _We talked about decorating a tree at Christmas in Coal Valley!_ she remembered in bewilderment _. He never said a word about leaving me._

When her dinner companions broke out in laughter over a joke Bud had told, Elizabeth didn't notice.

When Jack reached under the table and put his hand on her thigh, she didn't even acknowledge it with a smile or a glance. After a few seconds, he removed his hand.

"Everything okay?" Jack asked under his breath as he frowned and looked at her sideways.

"Everything's fine," she said with a weak smile, and then turned her attention to the broccoli on her plate.

"Are you sure?"

Elizabeth ignored his gaze and set down her fork. "I've got to get going."

"Hold on", Jack said as he quickly put down his boxed drink, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and stood up when she did. "I'll walk you."

"It's okay. You're probably busy. And. . . you've barely eaten. It's turkey and gravy. Your favorite," she responded as she waved him off.

* * *

"What's wrong?" Jack demanded as he raced after her as she walked out of the Cafeteria.

"Who says anything's wrong?"

"You're upset about something. I can tell. Is it something that happened with one of your students? Did you get a hologram from home?"

"Everything's fine. I thought I'd hit the gym and do some weight-lifting."

"You hate weight-lifting. You said it makes your arms feel like jello. Weak jello."

Out of nowhere the tears started. Elizabeth wiped the wetness from her cheeks and continued to walk. Refusing to look at him as she spoke. "You're leaving. You're taking the flight home. You didn't tell me."

"Hey, hey, hold up." Jack gently stopped her with his hand on her arm. "I don't know yet what's going on."

"You're on the manifest," she sobbed as the tears continued to fall despite her declaration that she would be strong.

"I know. I know. But I'm trying to get it changed."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Elizabeth wiped her face on her sleeve and tried to control herself but she couldn't keep the wetness from spilling down her cheeks.

"I still have time to change it. And I didn't want you to get upset."

"It's too late. I am."

"Please don't cry." Jack realized that he still was holding his napkin. He grimaced when he saw the gravy on it, but handed it to her anyway.

Elizabeth gratefully took the offered piece of paper, folded it to a clean part, and wiped her nose. "Why shouldn't I?" she asked.

"Because I hate it."

"Then you shouldn't have made me cry by getting on the manifest", Elizabeth said bitterly.

"I'm sorry. But stop it."

When she glared at him between tears, Jack tried again. "Please. There's no reason to cry. Not yet."

"If you get on the return flight, it's over between us. We won't see each other for two years." Elizabeth wiped her face again in an unsuccessful effort to regain her composure but the tears continued to spill out her eyes. She mumbled something which sounded to Jack like she said she'd be a flabby mess in two years, but he decided that he must have heard wrong.

"It's not over between us. I am trying to -"

Jack paused and looked around the corridor. He scanned his bracelet, which as a security bracelet was supposed to allow him access to every room on the transporter, across the nearest door buzzer, but the door remained shut. Holding onto Elizabeth with one hand, he moved to another door and tried the scanner. "Damn ship", he cursed when it too refused to open. Finally, he pushed open a door to the stairwell, pulled Elizabeth into the area, and pushed the door closed behind them.

"I'm trying to stay. I've got two weeks to solve this crazy stuff that's been going on. If I do, then there's no reason for me to take the return transporter to investigate. I'll be able to stay in Coal Valley. I'm trying. I'm really trying to stay in Coal Valley. With you."

Elizabeth sniffled and looked at him questioningly. "Really?"

"God, yes! Of course, I want to stay with you."

"Even on a barren desolate inhospitable outpost without any natural flora or fauna, and even if I eat too many croissants?" she asked as she began to hiccup from her crying. The tears had stopped when she heard his declaration.

Jack gave her a puzzled look. "Okay, I have no idea what croissants have to do with anything. But yes, I still want to be with you even in a crappy place like Coal Valley."

"It won't be crappy. There'll be new trees and dandelions. Lori says she thinks she can get things to grow pretty well. Of the sixty trees, she thinks she'll have a seventy-five percent success rate," Elizabeth said encouragingly. "It will be really nice. And I promise I'll lift weights and be hydrated even if my hair gets frizzy. And I got you a pair of slippers."

"I think we're getting off point here, and you are really confusing me," Jack said with a small smile. He ran his hands along Elizabeth's face, wiping away remaining tears, and then pulled her close for a hug.

"I am trying my darndest to solve this and not leave you", he said into her hair as he held her. "I have a new lead, I just don't want to think it's right."

"What is it?"

"Carl."

"Carl?" Elizabeth pulled back in confusion.

Jack looked up and down the stairwell to make sure it was empty. "I found his spiral gadgetor near one of the damaged small engines. It had fallen down between some pipes."

"Jack, it wouldn't be Carl," Elizabeth said with a shake of her head. "He's our roommate."

"Think about it. He had to borrow my gadgetor a few weeks back. He said his went missing. I think he may have accidentally dropped it when he was causing trouble and couldn't retrieve it."

"Maybe someone stole his. What's so important about it?"

"It allows access to certain fuse boxes, electrical compartments, equipment. He can open pipes that are normally locked. Open vents. He has one to check for microbes and bacteria on the ship. "

"Why do you have one?"

"It's just something I have for my job. In case I need to get into certain areas to look for clues, DNA, fingerprints."

"But Carl?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that one of the men she had been living with for three months was responsible for murder and causing damage to the ship. A man who had been sleeping just feet away from her night after night.

"There's something else. There are cameras throughout the ship, and even though they aren't recording properly, I can still see what is happening in real time when I'm in the office. And yet, I've never seen anything. The culprit is either very lucky or he knows my whereabouts. He knows when I'm in the living quarters and not on duty. Who has better knowledge of when I'm in my living quarters than my roommates?"

"I can't believe Carl would do anything. And I wouldn't and . Wait, you do know it wasn't me? Right?"

"Yes, you goose. I know it wasn't you," Jack said with a chuckle.

"Okay. Good. And Seth wouldn't. He's got a wife and daughter who are on the next transporter behind us; he wouldn't risk his safety or theirs. And Carl -"

"What?" Jack asked when Elizabeth paused.

Elizabeth frowned. "Well, it's not like he has a family. Let's go talk to him."

"We can't just go talk to him," Jack explained. "If he's responsible, he's not just going to admit it if you ask him nicely."

"Forget talk, I will beat it out of him if I have to", Elizabeth said with a determined look on her face.

"You don't like violence", Jack reminded her.

"Right," she admitted with a frown. "What do you suggest?"

"I suggest you stay out of it and I handle it."

"Not going to happen."

"Elizabeth, you are not going anywhere, and I can't rush into this."

"We only have two weeks. I am not going to lose you to the return flight!"

"You are not in law enforcement."

"I'm a school teacher. Close enough."

"It's not close at all!" Jack exclaimed. "They are nothing alike. Stay out of it. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I am fine! I can handle this."

"Elizabeth" Jack said in a tone which Elizabeth knew was a frustrated warning.

"Maybe I can help. Now stop stalling, Jack. We don't have much time. Let's go." Elizabeth ordered as she pulled open the door and started off down the corridor without waiting for Jack.

Jack sighed in exasperation but hurried after her.

 _Hubris,_ he thought with a perturbed shake of his head _._

 _We're probably going to name our first-born 'Hubris'._

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 20**


	20. Chapter 20 - Jack and Carl

**CHAPTER - JACK AND CARL**

"Wait up," Jack ordered when he caught up to Elizabeth who was determined to confront their roommate about the accidents on the ship. Jack put his arm around her waist as they kept walking. "We can't just accuse Carl."

"I know. I'm planning on going through his belongings", Elizabeth said matter-of-factly.

"I already did. There's nothing there."

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. "You looked through his belongings?" she hissed in surprise.

"I'm investigating a crime."

"Don't you need a warrant?"

Jack looked at her incredulously. "We are in a spaceship hurtling through space! Where the heck am I going to get a search warrant?!"

"Good point."

"Besides, I don't need one. We all gave up our right to privacy when we became passengers. It was in the fine print in the flight orders."

"And you didn't find anything when you searched his stuff?"

Jack shook his head and they began walking again. "Nothing. But think about it, we don't exactly get to have a lot of things on this ship. His clothes and his computer were it."

"Thanks for agreeing to us confronting him together."

"I didn't," Jack said tersely as he kept his hand securely on her waist.

"But you're letting me help," Elizabeth argued.

"Honestly, at this point. I think you're the one actually letting me help you," he said in exasperated defeat. "You, Elizabeth my dear, are a force to be reckoned with."

"Is that a good thing?" Elizabeth tried to suppress the small smile forming.

"What do you think?" Jack replied. He tried to remain stern, but Elizabeth heard the laughter behind his words.

* * *

The couple was still forty feet away from their living quarters when Jack noticed something out of the ordinary.

"What's stuck in our doorway?" he asked in confusion as he looked into the distance. "Something's keeping our door from closing all the way."

Elizabeth noticed it too but it was impossible to make out the object from the far side view.

The door to the room was opening and closing; unable to completely close due to something stuck in its path. The automatic metal door moved rhythmically back and forth. Hitting whatever was in its path.

"Did you drop something when you left our place?" Elizabeth asked.

Before he could reply, one of the doors which lined the hallway slid open. More than two dozen crew members began pouring into the corridor. Blocking the couple's view of their living quarters.

Jack and Elizabeth were quickly over-run by the throng of talkative uniformed men and women. The closest thing to a traffic jam on the transporter.

The crew members, relieved to be finished with a monotonous meeting, were jostling and crowding into the four-foot wide corridor. Jack sighed in frustration but could do nothing about it. He and Elizabeth were slowed to a pace of barely moving.

Within another second, the casual conversational sounds in the narrow space were replaced by murmurs of concern and anxious yells.

"Get the doctor!"

"Someone get the doctor."

Jack let go of Elizabeth's waist and pushed through the crowd. Unwilling to be left back, she grabbed ahold of the back of shirt and followed after him.

Someone hurriedly moved past Elizabeth in the opposite direction. Bumping into her arm as he quickly went to get the doctor.

When she got to their living quarters, Elizabeth barely noticed the woman who was now holding open the automatic door to keep it from hitting the out-of-place object. Instead, her attention was drawn to the floor.

* * *

Carl was laying sprawled on the low-pile carpet. His unmoving foot across the threshold.

His brown shoe was dented on the side where it had been hit numerous times by the door. But it wasn't his foot that was drawing everyone's attention. It was the blood pouring from his head wound.

"Move out of the way. Stand back," Jack ordered.

"He's barely conscious," a crew member kneeling by Carl's head said as he moved away to give Jack access to the injured man.

Jack knelt down next to his roommate. Making sure to avoid the blood on the carpet. He noticed the weapon a few inches away but focused on Carl's pale face with its dazed eyes. He seemed to still be somewhat responsive but Jack wasn't sure how long it would last.

"Carl, what happened? Who did this?"

Jack's brow furrowed in puzzlement when he heard Carl's mumbled answer. Thinking he had heard incorrectly or that Carl had misunderstood the question, Jack asked again.

"Carl, Yes, it's me, Jack. I'm here. I need you to tell me who did this to you. Who hit you?"

Carl took a gasp of breath and looked Jack in the eye. "You," he said and then paused to look over Jack's shoulder at Elizabeth. "Jack" he said once again as if giving her a final warning before he passed out. There was no mistake. Despite his head wound, with his last second of clarity, he had clearly said Jack.

Jack watched Carl's eyes close and then he looked up and around the small room. Their living quarters were crowded with crew members and passengers. Crouched on the berths. Standing on the ladders to get better views. Milling outside the doorway. He saw the look of utter bafflement on Elizabeth's face.

It seemed that everyone was frozen in place by Carl's words. And then the murmuring and anxious looks in Jack's direction started.

"He said Jack."

"I heard him. He said Jack did it."

"Did he say Jack did this?"

"His own roommate attacked him?"

"He warned Elizabeth just before he died."

"He's not dead!" Elizabeth said disagreeably. "He's just unconscious."

Jack ignored the voices and looked around the room. Any evidence, other than the weapon, had been trampled on by the crowd.

"Whose spiral gadgetor is that by his head?" someone called out.

Jack looked at the metal instrument which was covered in blood and had obviously inflicted the head injury. It weighed no more than two pounds but could still do considerable damage when wielded at a man's head. Engraved into the gadgetor were the initials J.T.

 _Jack Thornton_.

In case there was any doubt as to the identity of the weapon's owner, the initials after J.T. settled the question. NADF.

 _North America Defense Force._

"It's mine," Jack spoke up. "I need everyone to clear out of the room. Line up in the hallway. I'll need statements from everyone."

A few people started moving. Jumping down from an upper berth but then everyone froze again when Wayne spoke up.

"He assaulted me too. You all can't forget about that," the engineer reminded the crowd. The nervous men and women stood around Jack staring suspiciously at him while Wayne spoke. "Jack beat me up for no reason."

Elizabeth scowled. "That was totally different. And Jack did not attack Carl."

Jack couldn't help but feel his heart warm a little that Elizabeth was so quickly defending him. In fact, it was the only thing that made sense about this entire situation. That she was defending him.

"How do you know?" Wayne challenged. "Of course you'd defend him. He's your boyfriend."

"I would not defend him if he did something wrong. Stop being an idiot. He did not do this."

"You paid me to keep silent after he attacked me", a snarky Wayne declared. It was clear that Wayne was still not over the indignation of being bested by Jack.

"I didn't pay you!"

Elizabeth heard the whispers as people started talking about her family's wealth.

"I didn't pay him!" she yelled out. "It was water minutes! That's all!"

"Can you vouch for him tonight?" someone piped up.

"Yes. I was with him. At dinner. He couldn't have done this," Elizabeth replied in an exasperated voice.

"No, you weren't", Bud spoke up. "Sorry, Elizabeth, " he said with an apologetic shrug. "I like Jack. But you weren't with him. Jack came to dinner late tonight. You were almost finished by the time he got there."

With a start, Elizabeth realized that Bud was right. Jack usually arrived at the Cafeteria at the same time as she did, or they actually went together to eat. But tonight was one of the few times that he showed up later than her. Much later.

"Anyone could have come in here and done it", someone volunteered. Trying to be helpful to Jack.

Just then the crowd separated to allow the doctor into the room. Two crew-members pushing a wheeled stretcher – which would never fit in the narrow space between the berths - remained outside.

Everyone stayed quiet as Carl was briefly examined and then gently lifted up and carried into the corridor.

"Anyone could have come in. The doors open automatically on our rooms . . . unless we change the sensor to allow for only assigned occupants to be able to buzz in," the girl who had spoken up before announced. "People come and go into other people's rooms all the time."

Heads swiveled to look at Elizabeth and Jack, who both stared at each other.

"I changed ours after the incident with Ally crawling into my bed when she was drunk. Only assigned occupants could buzz in," Elizabeth admitted reluctantly.

* * *

Two hours later, Elizabeth sat on her berth. Looking at the blood stain a few feet away.

Seth sat on his own berth staring at her. Neither one said anything. They didn't know what to say.

Four friends and roommates. One unconscious in the infirmary. One in the Captain's quarters trying to explain the situation. Two sitting on their berths wondering whom to trust.

"Do you trust him completely?" Seth finally spoke up.

"I do."

Seth let out a deep sigh. "I guess that's good enough for me."

"Thank you", Elizabeth said quietly.

"Try to get some sleep. Jack won't be allowed back here tonight. He's going to be staying under guard. We'll figure out everything in the morning." Seth lay down, zippered his blanket around his body, and turned off the light over his bed before pulling his curtain closed. "Good night, Elizabeth."

"Good night, Seth."

The room seemed empty with two of its occupants missing.

* * *

Across the transporter, Jack was thinking similar thoughts as Elizabeth. Getting the same answers to questions about the possible assailant.

Jack was one of only four people who had access to their living quarters.

Jack had a history of assaulting another passenger.

Jack had been late coming to dinner.

Jack's service-issued gadgetor had been the weapon.

And most damning. . . The victim, Carl, had identified Jack as his assailant.

Elizabeth had to admit that this was definitely putting a glitch in her relationship with Jack.

 **Up Next: Chapter 21**

 **P.S. Here's a question for reader S. Thornton – How did you get lucky enough to get your last name? :) 🙂**


	21. Chapter 21 - Repaying a Debt

**CHAPTER 21 -REPAYING A DEBT**

"We need to concentrate on motive," Jack said as he took the fork and plate of food from Elizabeth.

It was now more than sixteen hours since they had found Carl injured on the floor and Jack's focus was starting to get side-tracked by his empty stomach. Not only had he missed most of dinner last night when he had run after Elizabeth due to her concern over his name on the return flight's manifest but, wanting to avoid any unwanted attention, Jack had remained in the security office all morning.

Last night, the ship's Captain, although he trusted Jack, had ordered him not to go back to his living quarters and had maintained a guard outside the security office door to quell any passenger concerns. The quartermaster had delivered a mattress, which was now propped up against the wall of the small office, for Jack to sleep on but Jack had mostly lay on it restlessly.

Now, in the light of day – or at least the artificial light of an artificial day in space – the Captain had called off the guard and ordered Jack to hurry up and solve the transporter's rash of problems.

Elizabeth sat down across from Jack and motioned him to begin eating. "According to the scuttlebutt-"

"The what?" Jack interrupted.

"Scuttlebutt. It's a nautical term. I figured since we are basically star sailors – I mean after all that's where the term astronaut comes from. The Greek word astron meaning star and nautes meaning sailor – that'd I'd use a nautical term. Scuttlebutt is the nautical term for rumors or gossip."

"Elizabeth, I love that you're enthusiastic about this and that you love teaching. And that you're full of knowledge. But can you please focus?"

"Right. Sorry. So according to the scuttlebutt or gossip, there are several motives. You have a law enforcement superiority complex. You attacked Carl because he was interested in me and you got jealous. Carl caught you doing something bad – although no one knows what that was. Or you were suffering from space madness."

"I don't mean we have to concentrate on _MY_ motive! I know that I didn't do it! We need to look at _other people's_ motives!" Jack exclaimed as he stared at her in bewilderment.

"Right. Good point," Elizabeth replied calmly. "And I thought of that. Which is why I started hacking into people's computers."

"You what?!"

"I hacked into some computers this morning. After I had an early breakfast."

"How?!"

"I'm a school teacher. We know things."

When a baffled Jack just stared at her, Elizabeth continued. "I have to teach computer science. Java. Pascale. Cobol, Fortran, C plus plus. The usual stuff," she explained casually. "In order to teach it, I had to learn it. And for a very brief time I dated a computer hacker."

"You what?!"

"It turns out he was more interested in computer games than me. It was incredibly hard to hold hands with him because he always had a computer mouse, joy stick, or game controller held tightly in his grip. After a few dates which consisted of eating pizza and staring at a computer screen, I ended things."

"How'd he take it?"

"I'm not sure he's noticed yet", Elizabeth said with a chuckle.

"How long ago was it?"

"About five years ago," Elizabeth smiled. "Like I said, he was more interested in computers than me. _But_ the important thing is that I picked up a few impressive computer skills from him."

Jack swallowed a bite of scrambled eggs, and motioned for Elizabeth to continue.

"I started with Seth. He's clean. Nothing on his computer but notes on rock concentrations, photos of his family, and sappy love messages home."

"You hacked into Seth's computer?" Jack had to admit that he was impressed with Elizabeth's skills and determination.

"You told me to trust no one. Although, I really do trust Abigail so I didn't bother with her computer. I also checked Carl's to see if there was anything there. I didn't understand most of it. Just studies on microbes and bacteria. Nothing suspicious. I checked Wayne's too."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I snuck into his office when he was in the Cafeteria bragging about how he could have taken you down but he didn't want to hit someone in law enforcement. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything."

Jack took a slug of orange juice from a juice box and glanced at Elizabeth who had turned the desk chair to face his computer, and was now looking through one of his databases as she talked.

"I also hacked into our suite-mates'. That's why I'm so late bringing you your food. I realized that they could have easily entered our room through the shared bathroom. They could just bypass the front door sensor. But unfortunately, I didn't find anything. I'm not sure what I'm looking for. But nothing looked out of the ordinary."

"Thanks", he said gratefully.

"No problem. I'm looking at these bank account records you requested a few weeks ago, but these are only the crewmembers. When do you get the passengers' accounts?" Elizabeth asked. Her eyes were scanning the records on the computer screen and she didn't notice Jack still looking at her.

"I mean it. Thanks."

"For the breakfast?" Elizabeth asked absent-mindedly. "I hope it was still warm." She clicked a few more buttons on the laptop and sighed in frustration. "Damn time delay. This is so frustrating waiting for the information to transmit. When do you think you'll get it? A few more days?"

"Elizabeth, will you look at me?"

Elizabeth turned her head sideways and noticed that Jack was no longer eating. He was simply looking at her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Aren't you hungry?" she asked. She looked at the plate of food in his hands. While he had made a dent in the pile of scrambled eggs, he hadn't touched the toast, hash browns, grits with butter, or slice of quiche. "I guess I went a little overboard, but I was worried about you."

"Nah, the food's great. Thanks," Jack said as he set the plate down on the floor. "But I mean thank you for believing in me. For never questioning me about whether I did it." His voice was a mixture of gratitude and amazement at being lucky enough to have a woman like Elizabeth in his life.

"Of course I never questioned you. I know you wouldn't have done it. And if you had, you would have had a very good reason. And told me."

"You really are incredible."

Elizabeth smiled. "Focus, Jack. We are trying to solve a mystery."

Jack stood up and shook his head. "Not just yet. First, we have a business matter to handle", he said as he closed the distance between them.

"Business matter?""

"There's a little matter of your loan repayment," Jack whispered as he lowered his mouth to hers.

* * *

Four hours later, Elizabeth could still remember the feeling of Jack's lips on hers. The way his hand had moved up her back. The sexy hardness of his chest muscles when she pressed against him. The way he made her moan with desire when he kissed her, and whimper in frustration when he pulled away.

She shook her head to put aside the memory of his taste and the feel of his tongue traveling on her neck. _Concentrate, girl_ she reminded herself as she stepped out of the elevator.

They had divided up the transporter's occupants into two lists. Jack was interviewing crewmembers, while Elizabeth had the task of interviewing passengers. Jack wasn't thrilled with Elizabeth putting herself in danger but he had finally agreed after Elizabeth promised that she wouldn't let on that she and Jack were looking into the numerous incidents on the ship. As far as anyone was concerned, this was just about Jack attacking Carl.

Elizabeth had portrayed herself in a variety of ways depending on who she was talking to. The devastated heart-broken victim of a Jack's charms had earned her sympathy from several of the female passengers. Unfortunately, none of them had divulged anything of importance.

 _"Jack always seemed like such a gentleman. I can't believe he was the culprit. I'm sorry, Elizabeth, but I didn't see anything. I was in the gym with Star and Alex."_

 _"Don't lose hope, Elizabeth. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. I don't know anyone who had problems with Carl."_

 _"Did Carl make a pass at you? Is that why Jack attacked him? Because I never did like the idea of rooming males and females together. It's just not safe."_

 _"Jack always seemed too good to be true. You know, that whole sexy law enforcement manliness. I'm not surprised he had a dark side. But no, I didn't see anything."_

Acting the part of the wealthy socialite who would be grateful for any information as to why her roommate had been ruthlessly attacked had likewise revealed nothing important.

 _"Carl's never mentioned problems of any kind to me. But if I think of anything I'll let you know. So, your dad is president of Thatcher Enterprises?"_

 _"I was getting my biweekly physical when it happened. The doctor can vouch for me. But hey, if you need me to say I was somewhere else, I can do that."_

* * *

Elizabeth walked into the Plant Nursery and saw Lori, the attractive horticulturist, holding a caliper against a small red tomato to measure the size of the fruit that she was growing without the benefit of soil.

Elizabeth didn't know what she was hoping for, other than some sage advice from the woman. And hopefully, in an accent she could understand.

Fifteen minutes later, Elizabeth walked back into the elevator and pushed the button to take her up to the level with the cafeteria and security office. She wondered if Jack had had better luck with his interviews. Lori had been as sweet as ever but she had barely ever spoken to Carl and neither she, nor her husband, knew why anyone would want to hurt the man. Or why Carl would blame Jack.

That was the problem. No one knew why Carl would blame Jack unless Jack had been the one to attack him.

"Maybe he eez not nice?" Lori had said with a helpless shrug when Elizabeth had asked her if she had any idea why Carl would accuse Jack of hurting him.

"No, he is nice. That's why I don't understand why he would blame Jack."

"Maybe you are barking wrong."

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth had replied. _Did she say barking? Like I'm a dog? Is she accusing me of being barking mad? Is she accusing me of being a bitch?! I am not a bitch!_

"Maybe you are howling at zee tree incorrectly. You look at why Carl said Jacque's name as zhe culprit, but maybe he did not. Maybe he said another name or zhere is another reason why he said Jacque's name", Lori had offered as she tried to be useful.

Standing in the elevator, Elizabeth dismissed what Lori had said and instead listened to the grumbling of her stomach. It was past lunch time. Time to meet Jack and compare notes.

* * *

"Has Carl woken up yet?" Elizabeth asked. She carried a bag with the lunch of canned fruit and sandwiches which Abigail had prepared, and hurried over to Jack when she saw him coming out of the infirmary.

"Not yet. And I feel like a damn criminal. I'm not allowed alone in the room with him. Just in case I really am the one trying to kill him", Jack said in disgust as the two walked towards the security office.

When he reached over and took the bag from her hands to carry for her, Elizabeth was once again reminded that he was a gentleman.

"You find out anything valuable?" Jack asked.

"Nothing. No one knows who was with Carl just before it happened, or why you would attack Carl, or why Carl would blame you. I'll do more interviews after we eat. "

"What about your students and class?"

"I gave them the day off. They weren't going to pay attention to me anyway. Not with all the excitement of my boyfriend roommate trying to murder another roommate. One student asked if I thought that your body had been taken over by an alien. I think he's watched one too many Sci-fi movies."

"Great," Jack said with mild irritation. "I'm not just a rogue law enforcement officer, I'm a rogue alien law enforcement officer. How far did you get on the list?"

"I've done about half. I just came from Lori in Horticulture. She called me a dog."

Jack stopped walking and looked at Elizabeth with a puzzled face. "She called you a what?"

"A dog."

"You must have heard wrong", Jack remarked. The corners of his mouth quirked up as he thought about Elizabeth's difficulty with Lori's accent.

"No, I didn't. She said that maybe I was howling incorrectly. Howling at trees incorrectly."

Jack shook his head in mild amusement as the door to the security office slid open and they walked in. "She meant barking up the wrong tree. She meant that maybe you misunderstood something."

"Whatever. I needed an answer as to why Carl accused you. Not a poorly translated tree idiom."

* * *

The rest of the day had proved to be equally unsuccessful. Between the two of them, Jack and Elizabeth had interviewed most of the people on the ship. At least most of the passengers and day crew. The night crew still needed to be questioned.

By the next morning, Elizabeth's mind was exhausted.

Jack had spent a second night on the thin mattress on his hard office floor. But, as Elizbeth reminded him, it was still better than Carl who has spent a second night in an infirmary bed. He had regained consciousness but because of large doses of medication required to reduce any swelling of his brain, Carl was heavily sedated and too confused to remember anything coherent when he was awake.

* * *

Jack sat on the edge of his desk, one foot dangling a few inches above the floor, and sighed in frustration. He and Elizabeth had run out of ideas.

It was hopeless. They had no hint as to why Carl would be attacked or why he would claim that Jack had been the one who had attacked him.

"Maybe Lori was right. We're barking up the wrong tree," Elizabeth said. She closed her laptop and looked at Jack. "Let's rethink it. Start from the beginning. We saw Carl just seconds after the crowd came out from the training room. No one heard him say anything until you got to him."

"I asked him who attacked him. And he said _You Jack_. I asked him again and he said it again," Jack remarked in a bored voice. He preferred not to think about being accused of a crime.

"Isn't that odd?"

"Elizabeth, the whole damn thing is odd! He accused me of attacking him!"

A composed Elizabeth put her hand on Jack's knee to calm him. "I mean the way he said it exactly the same way. You Jack. You Jack."

"He had a concussion. I don't think he was concerned with speaking in full sentences or worried about being criticized for repetition," Jack said dryly.

Elizabeth pushed aside the laptop, picked up a crochet needle and some yarn – both of which she had borrowed from Abigail – and began practicing her chain stitch as she thought about Carl.

Replaying the scene in his head, Jack spoke up a few seconds later. "But actually, he said _You_ twice the first time," he said indifferently.

"What do you mean?"

"He said _You You_ Jack. And then when I asked him again. He gasped for a breath, said _You,_ and then said _Jack_.

Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed as she re-lived the scene and began to murmur the words. "You You Jack. Gasp for breath. You Jack. You You Jack. Gasp for breath. You Jack."

"Would you stop saying it?" Jack asked with mild irritation. "It was bad enough the first time I was accused."

Elizabeth set down the hopelessly irregular chain of yarn stitches, stood up, pushed the chair off the side of the room, and spread her body onto the floor.

"What are you doing?" Jack questioned in puzzlement.

"Shh. I'm re-creating the scene," Elizabeth explained as she adjusted her body. "Kneel down close to me."

"Are you trying to get me to make-out with you? Because, honestly Elizabeth, this is not doing it for me."

"Hush, Jack. Let me pretend that I'm Carl with a concussion and trying to identify my assailant before I pass out. I'm dazed. I'm confused. I am so weak that I can barely get the words out."

Jack raised his eyebrows at Elizabeth but remained quiet as he watched her lie on the floor with her arms splayed out and one of her legs twitching as if it was being hit by the sliding door.

"It's still not doing it for me", he finally said cynically as he watched her murmur his name over and over. "Although, under other circumstances it actually might turn me on."

"Carl's fake British girlfriend!" Elizabeth screamed and sat upright. "Carl's fake British girlfriend!"

"Who?" Jack looked curiously at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth started talking excitedly. "That girl he hangs out with sometimes. They make-out on his berth. She's got a really long name from Central Africa or somewhere, and for the longest time, Carl was pronouncing it wrong! Finally, he just gave up."

"You mean Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa?"

"That's her! She likes everything British and acts like she's from London or something. But she's not."

"But what does she have to do with anything. He didn't say her name. He said mine."

"No, he didn't!" Elizabeth excitedly exclaimed. "Carl never talks about her using her real name because it's so long. He calls her Union Jack girl after the tee shirt she wears sometimes! It's got a big British flag on it. And she hangs out in our room. Seth even had to kick her out one night. The night of the talent show. When you were gone until three in the morning and she didn't want to leave. Don't you see? Carl wasn't saying _You You Jack_ ," Elizabeth continued enthusiastically. "He was saying _Union Jack_! That's what he was trying to say!"

"Union Jack?"

"Yes! Ask Seth. He'll tell you that's what Carl calls her." Elizabeth stood up and began pacing the small room. "I never did see what she saw in him. She's absolutely beautiful and Carl's kind of nerdy. Nice but nerdy."

"I don't know, Elizabeth. I've never seen the together but maybe a few times."

"Because she's usually been in our room whenever you aren't there! Almost like she wanted to know when you came back in our room so she could go do something without you watching on the security screens! Remember how one time you came back and she quickly made up an excuse and left? And she'd ask me about you sometimes. All friendly like. Like asking if you wanted to join us for dancing or how long you'd be gone. She wanted to know where you were!"

"It could be," Jack said. His voice suddenly getting excited. He started looking through files on his laptop. Clicking buttons until the woman's photo and brief biographical information appeared.

An excited Elizabeth continued to speak aloud every new thought that came to her. "She'd have access to Carl's gadgetor! She probably stole it and then accidently dropped it. And she'd be in our room because Carl would have let her in! But then, he must have realized she was up to something and so she grabbed your gadgetor and hit him over the head with it. He tried to go for help but collapsed before he could get out the door. Carl wasn't trying to warn me about you. He was trying to warn me about Union Jack! That's why he looked at me when he said it. Because he knew I'd know what he was talking about."

"But you didn't," Jack reprimanded her. "Not until now."

"Oh hush. I'm a school teacher, not a law enforcement officer. What did you expect? It took me awhile."

"You may be onto something here. She'd have access to Carl and his gadgetor. Neither one of us has interviewed her yet. . . . . It would make sense if Carl stumbled upon something and she tried to shut him up."

"I'm right. I know I am! Now give me a kiss."

Jack chuckled. "How about I go question Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa and then we make out?"

"Nope. First, we kiss. I need sustenance. And you owe me."

"I owe you?" Jack asked with raised eyebrows.

"I just saved you from the gallows," a self-satisfied Elizabeth said smugly.

Jack snickered. "They don't have gallows in space. And I wouldn't get the death penalty for knocking someone on the head."

"I still need sustenance."

Jack chuckled. "Since when did I become sustenance?"

"Since I started the North American Defense Force diet."

Jack laughed even harder. "The NADF diet is a diet _FOR_ officers to keep us strong and fit. It is not a diet _of_ NADF officers."

"You have your definition. I have mine," Elizabeth replied with a shrug and a mischievous smile.

Still grinning, Jack moved over to Elizabeth and cupped her jaw with one hand. "You do realize that I find you and your logic to be absolutely irresistible, don't you?"

"That was the game plan", she whispered as he lowered his mouth closer to hers.

"But we have a mystery to solve. No time for kissing," he quietly reminded her as he stopped moving just before their lips touched. His fingers continued to hold her face, and his own face was so close to hers that it was just a blur in her eyes.

"There's always time for kissing", Elizabeth said softly just before she closed the gap between them.

 **Up next: Chapter 22 – The Chase**


	22. Chapter 22 - The Chase

**CHAPTER 22 – THE CHASE**

"Now pay attention, Elizabeth," Jack said as he stood by the sliding door to his office. He was speaking to her as if she was merely a witness to a crime rather than the woman whom he had been thinking about undressing minutes earlier. "I will walk you back to our living quarters where you will stay. Stay. Is that clear? Stay."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and glared at Jack from her position a few feet away. Her arms were crossed against her chest as she stood there listening to him take charge.

They had finally stopped kissing much to Elizabeth's disappointment, and Jack had spent the next fifteen minutes looking through his computer files, scanning the camera screens, and demanding that Elizabeth let him handle the investigation.

"I am not a dog."

"A dog would be better behaved," he noted dryly.

"Take that back, Jack Thornton."

"Why should I? You refuse to listen to me."

Elizabeth trained her steely eyes at Jack but he refused to be fazed.

"What are you going to do if I don't take it back?" he challenged. "Stay away from me? You can't. We are on a spaceship."

"There are plenty of places on this ship to stay away from you," she reminded him coldly.

"You can't avoid me. We sleep on top of each other. . . In a nonbiblical way", he said as he tried to suppress a smile.

"I appreciate all your help. But now you have to let me handle it," he added in a nicer tone when he sensed her continued ire.

"Why?"

Jack face now showed his exasperation with her. "I told you. This can be dangerous! Why can't you just do as I say?"

"Because that's not who I am."

"Must you be so headstrong?!"

"You once said you liked that about me."

"I was drunk when I said that."

"There's no alcohol on the ship. It was all finished off the night of the talent show", she reminded him.

 _Drat. She's good._

Jack took a deep sigh to calm his growing irritation with her stubbornness. He found himself in the uncomfortable position of dealing with a woman whom he wanted to throttle at the same time he wanted to kiss her.

He realized it would be so much easier to deal with her if he wasn't so damn attracted to her.

"Elizabeth, please be reasonable. This woman may be dangerous. If she is responsible for attacking Carl, she is most likely also responsible for damaging the tether line causing one death, and causing the other malfunctions on the ship."

"You would not even know it was her if it wasn't for me!"

"I understand that. But I'm the one in law enforcement. Not you. So, let me handle it."

"Please," Jack added when Elizabeth didn't respond but merely fumed at him.

"Carl's my roommate too. I want to help catch the person who did this," she announced defiantly.

"And you are _my_ girlfriend. I am going to keep you safe."

"Please," he said in a softer voice which finally earned him a begrudging look from Elizabeth. The fact that he had referred to her as his girlfriend had also helped soften her considerably.

"You don't even have a gun. What if you need back-up?" she muttered disagreeably.

"I don't have a gun because you can't use a gun in a spaceship. It could cause serious damage. I have my taser. And I won't need back-up."

He shook his head slightly in bafflement as he wondered what possessed her to think that a wealthy socialite school teacher could be back up to a law enforcement officer. Was she going to hurl complicated math problems at the woman? Order her to the corner for detention? Make her clap hologram erasers?

The buzzing sound coming from Jack's bracelet suddenly interrupted his thoughts and their conversation.

Elizabeth waited quietly while Jack put the wrist band to his ear and listened to the man's professional voice coming through the metal device.

Jack responded to the directions in a professional tone and then turned to look at Elizabeth.

"I have to go to the Captain's quarters. Do you promise to go to our quarters?" he asked her as he lowered his wrist.

"I haven't decided yet," she said glumly. "Maybe I could help?"

"We'll flip a coin," Jack said in a last ditch effort to convince her. He pulled his lucky coin out of pocket. The same coin that had won him the top berth on their first day on the transporter.

"Fine, but I flip it this time," Elizabeth announced as she took the coin from his hand.

Four seconds later, the coin was in Elizabeth's pocket, Jack was pleased with the outcome, and Elizabeth was wondering if the coin was rigged.

"I'll stay in our quarters. But first, I want to stop by and see Carl in the infirmary", she added before they separated in the corridor.

* * *

Elizabeth hadn't meant to chase the woman. Or even to confront her. Honestly, she hadn't. But when she had seen the woman leaning over Carl's bed in the infirmary, Elizabeth couldn't help but motion her aside and ask her to leave the infirmary so Elizabeth could spend time alone with her roommate.

One look at Elizabeth's eyes, and Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa had known that Elizabeth suspected her of something. The woman more commonly called Union Jack Girl had almost made it out of the infirmary's door when Elizabeth couldn't pretend any longer that everything was okay.

Sitting on the edge of Carl's berth, she turned her gaze from his tired face and spoke over her shoulder at the other woman.

"I think you're dreadful. For what you did to Carl and to everyone else on this ship."

With that criticism, the woman had taken off running, and Elizabeth had sprinted after her.

* * *

Elizabeth, her ponytail flapping wildly at the back of her head, ran down another long corridor.

When she saw the woman push open yet another stairwell door, Elizabeth ignored her loose shoe with the lace that had come undone, and clenched her teeth in determination _._

 _She's not getting away from me_.

Elizabeth got to the door after it had already slammed shut, so she pushed it open and hurled herself into the stairwell. There was only one way to go at this point. Up.

"Jack! Jack!" she yelled into the messenger on her bracelet as she ran after the woman who was now a flight ahead of her. "I'm chasing her. She running up the East stairwell. Hurry!"

Elizabeth grabbed ahold of the handrail and used it to help support herself as she climbed the staircase. Her breath was ragged as she struggled to keep up with Carl's fake British girlfriend.

Elizabeth heard Jack's loud intense voice coming over her messenger but she couldn't make out all his words and she didn't have time to stop and pay more attention.

She was pretty positive that he had asked what the hell she was doing. And that he ordered her to stop it. But the rest of what he was saying was obscured by the sound of her feet pounding on the metal steps and by her heavy breathing.

 _Oh, hell, why is he still talking to me?!_ she thought in frustration _. Doesn't he understand that I'm chasing a criminal! Up steps! Just stop talking and get here!_

"Jack, get here! East stairwell," Elizabeth gasped into her bracelet as she briefly held it by her mouth. "She just got off on the top level. I'm chasing her!"

Elizabeth pulled open the metal door and quickly looked to the right. Nothing. She jerked her head to the left and saw her prey disappearing out of view as the woman turned a corner.

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth took off running again. She had no idea what she would do to the woman when she caught her but Elizabeth decided she would worry about that later. Once she had the woman cornered.

Nothing.

 _Damn, where'd so go?_

The hallway was lined with doors on both sides. Rooms. Electrical closets. The elevator. All of them were closed.

Elizabeth kept running. Hoping to see some sign of the woman.

As her heart pounded, she realized that this was nothing like one of her long dull jogs on the treadmill. This was sprints and stairs and more sprints. She had chased Carl's assailant along four corridors, down three flights of steps, and up five flights of steps. Down was much easier than up she had realized immediately.

Elizabeth was three feet away from the elevator when the door slid open and someone hurried out. He quickly caught Elizbeth in his arms as she almost tumbled into him.

* * *

"Jack", she gasped as he steadied her. "You have to go find her. She was trying to do something to Carl."

"What happened?!"

Elizabeth doubled over to catch her breath and shook her head. "No", she argued. "I'll explain later. Go find her first," she ordered as she weakly pointed down the hallway.

When Jack looked down the hallway and then quickly turned his attention back to Elizabeth, she looked at him curiously and then grabbed his upper forearm and frantically pushed him in the direction she had been heading.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly as he ignored her order and physical push. He quickly assessed her body from head to toe.

"I'm fine. Why aren't you going to find her?!" Elizabeth asked impatiently.

"We are on a spaceship. She can't go anywhere," Jack reminded her. His voice was calm now that he knew that Elizabeth was safe. "I'm more concerned as to why you're chasing after her when you promised me that you would stay safe in our living quarters."

"Go after her!"

"No. I will not. Not until I know that you are safe and you tell me what happened."

"She knows that I know what she's done!" Elizabeth said frantically. "She might do something more now. She's desperate!"

Jack scowled. "If she's desperate, it's because you tipped her off."

"I didn't tip her off!" Elizabeth started to object but then paused. "Okay. So maybe I tipped her off that we're on to her. But not on purpose. She was at Carl's bedside."

"She what?" Jack said with sudden interest.

"She was at Carl's bedside. Staring at him. I didn't know what she was going to do! She could have tried to inject his IV with something!"

"He doesn't have an IV," Jack noted matter-of-factly.

"She could have injected something into his arm!"

"What?" Jack questioned. "What could she have injected into his arm?"

Elizabeth had the suspicion that Jack wasn't taking her seriously. She began to wonder if that might have something to do with the fact that she had read too many mystery novels. "I don't know. . . She could have pulled out his tubes!"

"He has _one_ tube. And pulling out a catheter wouldn't kill him. Just make a wet mess on the bedsheets." Despite the situation, Jack couldn't help but smile at Elizabeth's enthusiasm.

"She could have tried to suffocate him with his pillow," Elizabeth suggested weakly as she realized she had probably made a mess of Jack's investigation.

"Yes, she could have. She could have suffocated him," Jack politely agreed. "But that probably would have totally clued us in that she was the one who had originally assaulted him," he added with a wry smile.

* * *

Jack finished speaking into his messenger and turned to Elizabeth. "Done. Carl is being guarded and the Captain has been alerted." The couple was quickly walking as Jack had insisted on escorting Elizabeth to their living quarters.

"I guess I should have just gone to our room and stayed there," Elizabeth said with disappointed embarrassment. "Now when you go to question her, she'll be defensive. You can't catch her off guard."

"How about you let me worry about that?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll arrange with the Captain to put the ship on lockdown. With his permission, we'll order everyone to their living quarters and lock them in. The crew will then go door to door searching. At the same time, we'll search the maintenance rooms, fitness center, cafeteria, and other rooms. She can't go far."

"Are you mad at me?" Elizabeth asked when they reached their living quarters. Instead of buzzing her bracelet across the sensor, she leaned against the corridor wall next to the sliding door.

"No, I'm not mad but I've got to get going. So, get inside and stay there. Stay there, my little Cocker Spaniel," he ordered. ""I'll check up with you in a few hours."

Jack leaned forward and gave Elizabeth a quick peck on the cheek and then started down the hallway. Leaving her to sigh wistfully and then buzz her bracelet across the door sensor.

 _Cocker Spaniel,_ she thought in disgust. _If I'm going to be a dog, I'd prefer a Canadian Eskimo dog or Newfoundland._

 _I wonder if this is what it will be like when we're married and he's involved in a case. Me staying home. Him out there doing something brave and manly and sexy. He's sooo sexy when he takes charge._

 _Maybe I should let him do it more often._

 _Okay, stop it Elizabeth._

 _Don't get ahead of yourself._

 _He hasn't even told you that he loves you._

 _Yet._

* * *

The door slid closed behind Elizabeth and she immediately started to kick off her shoes. It was then, out of the corner of her eye, that she saw the final movement of the bathroom door closing.

Elizabeth paused.

She was standing there. Jack was walking down the hallway. Carl was in the infirmary.

"Seth?" she called out hesitantly.

When he didn't immediately respond, she hastily turned and opened the door to the hallway. Rushing into the corridor she looked to her right in the direction of the door to the adjoining living quarters. The room that shared a bathroom with hers.

The door was sliding closed as the room's trespasser ran down the hallway.

 _Oh, Jack, I'm sorry!_ Elizabeth muttered as she hesitated for a split second before giving chase. If she hurried, she might just catch the beautiful woman with the short-cropped hair.

"Jack!" she yelled at the top of her lungs and into the air as she ran. Hoping he was still in earshot and hadn't already gotten on an elevator. "Jack! I'm chasing her again!"

When Elizabeth slid around a corner, she realized that if Union Jack Girl didn't kill her, Jack just might.

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 23 - THE MINI TRANSPORTER**


	23. Chapter 23 - The mini transporter

**CHAPTER 23 – THE MINI TRANSPORTER**

"Stop! You can't do that!" Elizabeth screamed. "You'll cripple the ship!"

Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa, Carl's female friend who had tried to kill him, held the wrench in her hand and paused in mid-swing when Elizabeth entered the engineer capacitor room.

A few more hits in the right spot and the woman would indeed cripple the ship. Slowing down its voyage to Coal Valley enough that the passengers would be forced to spend five weeks living off of only two weeks of rations. The temperature would no longer be able to be maintained at 70 degrees. Water would be rationed even more than normal to allow for drinking and only the most basic of hygiene. All the ship's energy would be focused on getting to its destination.

"You Thatcher bitch!" the woman yelled back at Elizabeth. When she made a move to continue whacking at the computer and capacitors, Elizabeth lunged at her. Knocking her to the ground.

* * *

"Where the hell are you, Elizabeth?!" Jack demanded in frustration. He was frantically searching the cameras' images for Elizabeth, who had last been seen by a crew member as she sprinted down a hallway.

The ship was on lock-down. Crew members were rushing through the transporter trying to stop the systems from malfunctioning. Lights were flickering on and off. Loud unnatural noises clanked through the air vents.

Every time the power flickered, the images on the security office screens disappeared as if into a black hole causing Jack's heart to race and him to slam his fist against his desk in anger.

It was now clear to Jack and the other men crammed into his small office that the fake British woman called Union Jack Girl was determined to damage the ship. If she had her way, Thatcher Industries would lose all future contracts. Transportation to the outlying colonies would be slowed. Fortunes would be lost. Reputations would be damaged.

Knowing that she had been identified as the likely culprit behind the numerous incidents, the woman wasn't going to nicely surrender. She was determined to cause as much damage as possible so that the name "Thatcher Industries" would be ruined. At least in the business of making space vehicles.

When the screens lit back up with images after a moment of blackness, Jack frantically scanned them.

 _There!_

He cringed when he saw Elizabeth take a punch to the jaw.

As the two women tussled, Jack quickly used the intercom button to order crewmembers to the engine capacitor room. Before Jack could do any more, the women scrambled to their feet and Elizabeth was once again chasing her prey.

Jack watched in dismay as the two disappeared from the image on the screen as they moved out of view of the camera.

He didn't have time to contemplate that by attacking the woman, Elizabeth had just saved the transporter's passengers from potential catastrophe.

His eyes were too busy now quickly searching the other screens until he saw them enter the small mini-transporter which was required by law to be on all transporters in case of the need for an emergency evacuation.

The vehicle, which was kept at the far end of the transporter's top level. was no more than fifteen by twenty feet in size, and was basically a lifeboat of sorts. Meant to ferry a seriously injured or ill passenger to the nearest civilization in a shorter amount of time than the large transporter could manage.

Because of its sleek size, the mini vehicle, which lacked an advanced navigational system, had more than three times the speed of the main ship. To achieve that speed, its weight had been kept to a bare minimum by stocking it with only enough necessities to last approximately three days. Essentially, it was meant to go fast for short-distance travel. It served its purpose well but was only useful if its larger parent transporter was close to Earth or a colony.

It certainly wasn't meant to be used as it was now. As a fighting arena for two women.

"Watch the screens. Message me and keep me informed of their whereabouts", Jack instructed the First Officer before running from the security office after witnessing Elizabeth take a kick to the ribs.

* * *

"Elizabeth? Can you hear me?" The man behind the voice tried to remain calm as he spoke into the intercom outside the first of two sealed metal doors.

"Jack? Yes, I can hear you! Did you catch her? She closed the door before I could get out."

Elizabeth sighed in relief knowing that Jack was on the other side of the doors. She had spent the last five minutes trying to find the lever to open the inner mini-transporter door and was beginning to worry.

It was the sounds that worried her slightly.

The suction of the airlock as the second door behind the mini-transporter's door had also closed. The clicking of the locking mechanisms securing her in the small vehicle. The humming of the instrument panel as it seemed to be running through some sort of program.

Elizabeth had pushed the intercom button and attempted to contact the Control Center to have them over-ride the door's lock but so far nothing had happened to the door.

"Yes. We got her. You did good." Jack answered. He paused. Wondering how much to tell her.

"Oh, Thank goodness. Can you open the door, please? I can't get it to open from here. I'm starting to get a bit claustrophobic."

"Jack? Did you hear me?" Elizabeth asked when he didn't immediately respond.

"I heard you. We're going to get the door open. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I think I may have a black eye and some other bruises but I'll be fine. Did you really get her?"

Jack took a deep breath before answering. He knew that he had to make his voice sound composed as he spoke into the intercom but it wasn't that easy as he contemplated the gravity of the situation.

He was grateful that Elizabeth couldn't see him. That she couldn't see the anguish in his face.

"We did. She's got three guards on her and is getting locked up in one of the crewmember rooms."

"That's good. Why don't you sound happy?"

"I'm happy. About that."

Elizabeth assumed that the hesitancy in Jack's voice was merely because he was worried about her. Or angry that she had chased after the woman. She realized that he had been mad at her quite a bit in the last few hours.

"You're not mad at me, are you? I had to chase her. She was right there in our room. And well. . . I just took off after her."

"No, Elizabeth. I'm not mad at you. You did a great job stopping her from damaging the ship."

"You should sound happier," she informed him but he didn't respond.

"Jack, open this door", Elizabeth said as she pounded on it. "I am really starting to not like being stuck in here. And my ribs hurt where she kicked me."

The relief she had felt when she had first heard Jack's voice was starting to ebb away. "There's a buzzing noise. Like somethings starting up. I'd try to turn it off but I don't want to mess with the controls too much. If someone just opens the door, they can handle this."

"Elizabeth, I don't want you to get upset."

"Upset? Why would I get upset? Just open the door."

"We have a slight problem. But we're working on it."

Jack looked around at the two men crouched on the floor next to him who were frantically working on their laptops trying to over-ride the events Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa had put into motion.

Elizabeth felt herself begin to get more anxious. Her pulse quickened but she was powerless to stop it. Something wasn't right. Jack was sounding too tense. No one was opening the door.

"What's going on out there? Why haven't you opened the door? Lights are starting to flash in here. And things are beeping." Elizabeth swiveled her head around at the instrument panel as she talked. "Is the door stuck from that side? . . . . There's a swooshing sound coming from underneath me. And some rumbling."

"I love you, Elizabeth."

Suddenly Elizabeth's heart plummeted. She put her hand over her mouth to keep back a sob.

"I'm stuck in here. I'm going to die in here!" she gasped.

Over the past few days, Jack had envisioned a few possible reactions to his declaration of love. He had imagined Elizabeth throwing herself into his arms. Her telling him that she loved him. Him pulling her into a kiss. A passionate long kiss. Or a sweet tender kiss.

They had all involved some form of kissing. None of them had involved Elizabeth announcing her death.

"Elizabeth, you are not going to die", he argued with her.

"Yes, I am. That's why you're telling me that you love me", she sobbed.

"I am telling you that I love you because I love you!"

"You've had weeks to tell me, but you didn't. Now you think I'm going to die. So, you're telling me. To comfort me just before I die. Because I'm trapped in here. I'm trapped in here, aren't I?"

"We are working on it. It's two steel doors and the computer wires are all fused together. Abayomi messed with them. Don't worry. We just need time."

Elizabeth began frantically yanking open drawers and pulling out the enclosed packets. She scanned the labels as she threw them to the floor. Meal Ready to Eat - One person - Day One. Water - One person – Day One. Meal Ready to Eat – One person – Day Two. Water – One Person – Day Two. Meal Ready to Eat – One person – Day Three. Water – One person – Day Three.

Suddenly she looked at the now empty drawer and breathed a deep sigh of relief. _They have time to open the door! Surely, they can think of something in the next three days. I've got three days of food and water._

"It's okay, Jack. I'll be okay for three days," she said with renewed hope. She relaxed her tense shoulders. "It's okay. Everything's okay."

She could make it for three days.

And if she had to, she would eat and drink half rations so she could last six days. And if she really needed to, she would only consume one-third her rations each day. When the transporter arrived at Coal Valley, the technicians would be able to blast open the door and free her. Or blast off a side of the ship to get her out.

It wouldn't be a pleasant journey isolated by herself in this room, but Jack would stay on the other side of the door. She knew he would. He would just be a few feet away. And so would Abigail, and Seth, and Carl. And all the other passengers on the transporter. She wouldn't really be alone, she told herself. Jack and the others would be close by.

 _Just breathe. Just breathe_ , she told herself before she suddenly wondered if she'd have enough oxygen.

"Jack, is there enough oxygen? Should I try to control my breathing?"

"I don't want you to worry about that," Jack said as he swallowed a sob before she could hear it in his voice.

One of the men who was crouched on the floor next to Jack shook his head in regret while the other technician continued intently tapping on his keyboard. More crew members had now joined the group and were using lasers to try to open a seam in the door. The beams barely made a scratch on the titanium steel door which was coated in plasmadelts.

The ship's Second Officer nervously stared at his watch. He would have to call off the men with lasers in a few short minutes.

Something in Jack's voice made Elizabeth realize that this wasn't just a matter of a stuck door. "What's going on out there? Tell me the truth."

She asked the question but she knew with dread that she didn't want to hear the answer.

"She damaged the controls. It looks like when she closed the door, she also attacked the outside control panel. The wires short-circuited and burned out. We can't get the computer to open either door and they're sealed shut. The internal computer programs have started."

Jack leaned his head against the door in despair before he continued talking. "The mini-transporter is set for jettison. . . . in six minutes. I love you. I really really love you."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN JETTISON IN SIX MINUTES?!"

"The ship will jettison in six minutes. You won't be able to dock back with the transporter. The blast will damage the docking station."

"So, I'll have to fly this thing to Planet Assaymark? By myself?" Elizabeth asked anxiously on the verge of hysteria. She had flown mini-transporters since she was sixteen but that had been on Earth. And those transporters were nothing like a complicated one meant for space travel.

Elizabeth heard voices talking to Jack and him frantically responding but she couldn't make out all the words. And the ones which she heard, she didn't like.

"Jack? Jack?"

"Yes, Elizabeth. I'm here. We're trying to work out the problem."

"I don't understand. Should I strap myself in? Will someone guide me, or is it on autopilot to the planet? How long will it take me to get there? I've only got three days of food and water."

"Jack?"

"Oh, God. It won't take me!" Elizabeth said hysterically when she realized her situation. "It doesn't have enough energy to take me all the way to the Planet. We're still too far away! It's going to jettison me out into nothing and I won't be able to get back!"

"Elizabeth, you're going to be okay. I need you to take a deep breath."

"Hurry up, damn it! Get this door open or stop the program!" Jack yelled at someone. Forgetting to cover the open channel intercom.

Elizabeth began to tremble and sweat at the same time. She was going to die. Alone. In space. A slow lonely death that would take three days until the mini- transporter ran out of energy. Without energy, there would be no heat. She would be left adrift in space in a cold metal box. She would be powerless to prevent it. Everyone would be powerless.

"I'm going to be jettisoned into oblivion!"

Jack realized that it may have been better if he had kept her in the dark about the direness of her situation. Or at least tried to cushion the blow. It was now very clear to him that she hadn't taken the news of her predicament very well.

"Into oblivion!" she hysterically yelled.

"Calm down, please Elizabeth," he pleaded with her. "We're trying to think of something."

Elizabeth couldn't calm down. She felt like vomiting.

It was when she began to feel nauseated that a scene from the second day that Elizabeth had known Jack popped into her mind. Back when things were so much simpler.

She remembered the morning when they had stood in the cafeteria line for their first breakfast.

' _People feel nauseated. They are nauseous._ It's basic grammar', he had teased her. Making her bristle as he had corrected her grammar and then had casually ordered frozen eggs for breakfast.

 _Jack._

 _This can't be the end of us._

"Jack, get me out of here!" she pleaded. "Please."

Elizabeth waited for Jack to respond but all she heard was a cacophony of voices on the other side of the doors as the men hurriedly discussed options. Jack had once again forgotten to mute his side of the intercom. Voices were yelling out suggestions only to be quickly rebuffed by others who knew more about the systems.

"Elizabeth, look around," Jack finally said as he spoke to her. "Do you see the capacisizer? It will be up high. In the far left corner. It's a small red box."

Elizabeth jerked her head around looking in the corners of the room. "I see it."

"If you can get to it and open it, you might be able to unlock the doors. You'll have to unlock both the inner door and the outer door."

"How do I open it?"

There were more hushed voices on the other side while Elizabeth waited anxiously. Trying not to count down the minutes.

"Is there anything you can use for a tool? Something thin like a flat-head screw driver or a knife?"

Elizabeth began scrambling around the room, yanking open drawers, pulling open small metal cabinets.

"Hurry Elizabeth! You need to hurry!" Jack urgently told her.

"There's nothing here!"

"Your lucky coin!" she screamed when she suddenly remembered the round silver object in her pocket from their earlier coin toss. "I've got your lucky coin. It can work as a screw driver."

"Perfect. Good thinking."

"How will I get up there?"

"We're going to stop the artificial gravity for you. You'll be able to float up there. You can do this. But you'll need to hurry."

Elizabeth heard the loud voice of the commander as he announced to the entire transporter over the system-wide intercom that all passengers and crew needed to prepare for the gravity to be turned off in two seconds.

One one thousand

Two one thousand.

Elizabeth was weightless. Her legs went out from under her and she found herself floating horizontally. She felt uncoordinated.

Like a dandelion wisp floating in the air.


	24. Chapter 24 - Dandelion Love

**Dear Readers, Thanks for all your encouragement. This is a long chapter, so take your time. I think you'll be happy with it. Happy Thanksgiving!**

 **CHAPTER 24 – DANDELION LOVE**

"Elizabeth, what's happening?" Jack's voice came over the intercom a second after the transporter's artificial gravity had been turned off. Outside the small mini-transporter, passengers and crew members had been sent scrambling to hold onto something.

"I'm floating but I'm not near the red box." Elizabeth announced as she looked at the rectangle box which was several feet in front of her.

"You need to speak up, Miss Thatcher," an unfamiliar man announced. "You're not close to the intercom so you need to talk loudly. This is Ensign Chambers. I'm going to talk you through this. Did you say that you are near the red box?"

"Not yet."

"You need to propel yourself to it. Small movements. You only need to move ever so slightly. Without gravity to stop you, you'll keep going," he instructed.

Elizabeth, who was now lying horizonally ten feet off the floor, maneuvered herself so that her fingertips gently moved along the ship's ceiling. "I'm touching the ceiling. Using my hands. I'll be there in a second. . . . Okay, I'm there."

"There are two screws on the front plate. See if the coin fits into them."

"Is Jack still there?" she worriedly asked. Wondering if he had abandoned her to get further help. Or just to get away from the dreadfulness of the situation.

"I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere." Jack's strong voice came over the intercom.

"The coin fits." Elizabeth said, feeling hopeful for the first time in the last few minutes as she held the round silver object to the box. "I'm going to unscrew the first one."

The screw didn't move.

 _Damn!_

Without considering the amount of force she was using, she threw her whole body into turning it.

"You need to hold onto something or you'll –"

Elizabeth's screech echoed through the room cutting off the ensign in mid-sentence as her body started turning and turning. Her mouth filled with vomit as she turned upside down in endless revolutions.

On the other side of the doors, Jack's body involuntarily jolted forward at the sound of Elizabeth's scream.

The First Officer put a hand on Jack's shoulder to calm him – and to keep him from propelling himself into the door. "She's probably spinning. She turned the screw without propping herself. Amateur mistake."

"Miss Thatcher, reach out and touch the wall. You can't turn your body in space too forcefully or you'll keep moving. Without gravity there's nothing to stop it. You need to steady yourself before you turn the screw."

 _Now, he tells me! This is why I'm a teacher. Not him. Because I know how to give instructions!_ she thought disagreeably as she reached out and grabbed onto a pipe to stop her somersaults

"Get back in position. Prop yourself against the wall or ceiling. We don't have a lot of time."

"Okay. I'm there," Elizabeth replied as she steadied herself in front of the red box.

Her hand slipped off the coin when she nervously tried to again put it in the slotted head of the metal screw.

Instead of falling to the floor, the coin remained in front of her. Floating like a prize just waiting to be grabbed.

She took ahold of it again and placed its narrow side into the screw for the third time.

"Turn the screw. Quickly now. Lefty loosey. Just like on Earth," the man said in the practiced voice of someone who had taught countless trainees how to handle working in space.

* * *

Fifty seconds later, both screws and the cover to the red box were floating in the air of the cabin as Elizabeth concentrated on the ensign's instructions.

"Say the numbers again. It was too fast." Elizabeth ordered. She had already flipped three toggle switches and turned two dials. She was getting more and more anxious as time lapsed and the ensign continued with his instructions.

"One. Three. Eight. Four. Then the blue button on the right," the man calmly repeated over the intercom. He ignored the engineer standing over his shoulder who was counting down the time until the mini-transporter would be jettisoned.

 _One. Three. Eight. Four. Blue button on the right_. Elizabeth repeated to herself.

"Done," she announced as she finished pushing the buttons. "Nothing's happened."

"That's okay. Miss Thatcher. You're doing fine. Push the light green button now. The light green one."

Elizabeth scanned the box in front of her and then pushed the designated button. "I did it. But I smell something burning."

When she looked down, she saw wisps of pale gray coming from under the control desk across the room. "There's smoke!"

"Don't worry about that. You just concentrate on my instructions. Is the light green button blinking?"

"Yes," Elizabeth answered hurriedly as she tried to ignore whatever was burning and follow the man's instructions.

"Good. You're doing fine. Now, I want you to pull some wire out. Do you see the white wire with the thin black line?"

"Yes."

A nervous Elizabeth tried to concentrate but was temporarily side-tracked when she saw tiny beads of her sweat leave her skin and float around her. So small that they were almost invisible as they danced in front of her when they left her body.

The now familiar voice of the ensign reminded her of the task at hand.

"I want you to yank out the white wire with the thin black line. As hard as you can."

"It's not coming out!" Elizabeth exclaimed anxiously as she tugged on the plastic-coated line.

"Grab ahold of it and kick your feet off the wall as hard as you can. You have to get the wire out."

Elizabeth grabbed the wire with both hands and kicked off the wall. Yanking it with her, she sailed across the room.

The now broken wire remained clutched in her fist as she hit the far wall and then was immediately propelled across the room again like a slow-moving ping pong ball that couldn't stop.

She knew immediately something was happening. The loud beeping that had been going on since the doors had locked came to an abrupt end and was replaced by a softer long tone. She heard the blast of air entering between the two doors.

"Miss Thatcher, it appears you have completed the override," the ensign said with relief evident in his voice. "Grab ahold of something. We're going to turn gravity back on."

* * *

Jack stood in front of the outer of the two heavy doors and watched as it slowly inched its way open. "Hurry, hurry," he muttered anxiously at the metal barrier which kept him from Elizabeth.

"Patience. Officer Thornton. Once this door is fully open, the other one will start to open," Ensign Chambers said with a smile.

Jack was bouncing back and forth and wringing his hands together as the second door began to sluggishly move sideways. When it was still half-closed, he squeezed through the opening, and ran into the room.

"Jack!"

She was dangling by her hands from a pipe which ran the length of the ceiling.

"Drop. I'll catch you."

"Are you sure?" Elizabeth asked. She looked down at the crowd which was forming as crew members rushed in the now fully open doors.

"Yes, I'll catch you."

Without further hesitation, she released her fingers and allowed artificial gravity to do its work.

It wasn't until she was held tightly in his strong arms, that Elizabeth finally felt safe.

He murmured something in her hair as he held her securely to his chest, but she couldn't hear what he was saying over the loud voices of the engineers and technicians who were moving about the mini-transporter. Shutting off alarms. Pushing levels. Twisting dials. Clicking off flashing lights. Someone slapped out the small fire that had started in the wires under the control panel.

Hands pried Elizabeth out of Jack's arms and she found herself being given a cursory examination. She wanted to talk to Jack. To spend more time with him. To tell him that she loved him. But she was surrounded by people and Jack was being dragged away to handle something.

* * *

"I don't want to. You can't make me," Elizabeth pouted as she refused to lay down. She pushed away the doctor.

"I want to go to my berth. In my living quarters. To my own berth," she blabbered on. She was trying hard to focus and stay awake but she had a feeling that despite her objections, the doctor had given her a sedative.

Her eyelids were so heavy that she had now decided she wanted a nap after all. But not here. She didn't want to sleep in an unfamiliar place with the rude doctor.

"The pain killer for her ribs is making her sleepy. It appears that she's a bit of lightweight when it comes to medication. I'll keep her overnight," the transporter's doctor informed Jack, who had just walked in the infirmary after dealing with the mess created by Carl's fake girlfriend.

"No. _My_ berth," Elizabeth protested as she tried to get off the table, but the doctor's hands kept her there. She wobbled slightly as she tried to stay upright and her words slurred a bit as she spoke again.

"I'm a dandelion wisp floating. I like dandelions. Jack gave me some." Her head slumped sideways as she finished speaking and she had to right it to look at Jack.

The last thing Elizabeth was aware of before she succumbed to the medication was Jack hoisting her up into his arms.

"Come on my little dandelion, he said softly as he carried her down the long corridor to their room.

* * *

"Morning, superhero."

Elizabeth, who was lying in her berth and had just opened her eyes and stretched – causing a slight grimace when she felt her bruised rib, turned to the sound of the male voice.

Looking around the small living quarters, she saw it was otherwise empty.

"Hey, Seth. What happened? Where's Jack?"

Elizabeth was surprised that he wasn't there. Waiting for her to wake up. Especially after the incident with the mini-transporter.

"Jack and Carl went to breakfast. Carl's better. Now _you're_ the injured one. I'm supposed to keep an eye on you and message Jack and the doctor when you wake up." Seth said as he typed into his bracelet. "You got any make-up?"

"What?" Elizabeth asked in confusion as she sat up and moved her legs over the edge of her berth.

She heard a plop and looked down at Jack's sketch pad which she had accidently knocked off her berth. Actually, she wasn't sure whose berth she was in. She had Jack had changed back and forth so often that she gave up keeping track. She wasn't even sure what time or day it was.

She tiredly bent down, picked up the pad, and placed it next to her on the mattress before looking expectantly at Seth. "Make-up?"

"Yeah, you look like hell. You might want to, you know. . . cover up or something for lover-boy," Seth said with a nod to her face. "Not that he'd probably care but it's not like you're married or anything. Now, if you were married that's different. My wife can look like crap. In fact, she has looked like crap. When she gave birth to our daughter, she looked awful. But I didn't care because she's my wife and I love her. You and Jack are still kind of new at this whole relationship thing, so make-up might be a good idea."

"Shut up, Seth."

* * *

Elizabeth was brushing her teeth when she heard the swoosh of the quarters' door open and voices. She quickly spit into the sink, and ran her hand through her hair.

 _He said he loved me_ , she reminded herself for the fourth time since she had awoken. Actually, it was more like the hundredth time.

 _Please, don't let it have been a pity "I love you". That he only said it to be nice to me because he thought I was dying._

 _Where's Julie when I need her? She'd know what to do._

 _Don't be silly. He loves me._

 _Why, it will probably be the first thing he says when he sees me! And he'll swoop me into a kiss!_

Elizabeth didn't want to waste time worrying about covering the purple bruising around her swollen eye, or the redness of her cheek, or the scratch by the side of her eye where the sharpness of a ring had damaged her smooth skin.

She couldn't wait any longer to throw herself into Jack's arms. To tell him that she loved him. To hear him say it.

 _Here goes_ , she thought as she opened the door with a smile on her face as she anticipated his heart-felt words.

"How you doing?" Jack asked in a friendly voice when he saw her.

Elizabeth stopped on the threshold of the bathroom door and stared at the room's occupants.

She barely had time to answer Jack's polite question when Abigail pulled her into an embrace. And then Carl was hugging her and thanking her for all she did. Her suite-mates from across the bathroom all squeezed into the room to congratulate her. To pester her with questions. To cringe at her black eye. To tell her that they didn't think she had it in her but they were damn proud of her.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Jack and the others had briefly explained to Elizabeth what had occurred while she slept, and Elizabeth had finished regaling everyone perched on the four berths with the details of her escapade, when the doctor came in and ordered the room emptied out so that he could exam Elizabeth.

As Jack moved to leave, she reached out and took hold of his hand. Wanting him to stay. _We haven't had any time alone together._

Their eyes met and he gave her a wink. "I'll catch up with you later", he said as the doctor began placing cuffs with sensors on her limbs.

And then Jack was gone. Along with the rest of the crowd into the various parts of the ship.

* * *

Elizabeth quickly showered and then made her way to the Cafeteria. It was now past the breakfast hour but she was sure Abigail would find something for her.

She could barely go twenty feet without someone in a corridor stopping to ask her how she was doing, or say a few words of praise, or tell her about how the sudden lack of gravity had messed up their experiments or racquetball game.

The doctor had declared her banged up but otherwise healthy, and given her a mild pain killer. She was now clean, pain-free, and starving.

 _I haven't eaten since yesterday's lunch. I'll find Jack._

 _What did he say to me? I'll catch up with you later? Was that a reference to when he caught me in the mini-transporter? To remind me of that? Gosh, I don't need a reminder!_

 _Jack._

 _I want to be with Jack._

 _I want him to tell me he loves me. Without the fear of death._

"Elizabeth! Wait up," one of the engineers called out from behind her.

Elizabeth paused in the corridor and waited for the woman to catch up to her. "I need to do a report of survey for some of the damaged equipment. I'll need a statement from you. We can go to my office."

* * *

For the next four hours, Elizabeth was kept busy as person after person sought her out. As she walked through the various levels and cabins, she saw damaged wiring, men and women patching holes, dented metal cabinets.

"What happened there?" she asked in surprise when she saw a door laying on the floor.

"Small explosion caused by a surge in power," her escort responded.

Elizabeth realized that this wasn't some romantic fairy tale. This was real life. Reports needed to be filled out. Inventories needed to be taken. Broken equipment needed to be repaired.

She was interviewed countless times by each department which had to prepare a survey of damage and needed a statement from her.

"That's great. Thanks, Miss Thatcher," the quartermaster stated as he closed his hologram camera. "I shouldn't need any more information from you. And if I do, I know where to find you."

Elizabeth sighed in relief and her stomach grumbled. She knew that accountability was important, but at times she felt like just telling everyone not to worry. Whatever was damaged, her father's company would fix.

 _For goodness sakes, it built the ship!_

* * *

It was past noon by the time Elizabeth was finally able to get to the Cafeteria.

"You've been kept busy," Jack said in a friendly voice when he looked up and saw her approach the table with her tray of food.

"I had no idea she did so much damage," Elizabeth said in disbelief. She set her tray on the table and sat down next to Jack.

"When she damaged the capacitors, power connections were interrupted and surcharges occurred," someone responded. "Things fizzled, temperatures fluctuated. It could have been much worse."

The diners nodded in agreement, and within a few minutes, the conversation had turned from the damaged ship, to more pleasant talk about the excitement of arriving in Coal Valley in a week and a half, hologram news from home, and a surprise birthday celebration for Bud. A chorus of voices sang "Happy Birthday" to the scientist when Abigail carried a small cake over to the table. Because flames weren't allowed on the transporter, someone brought up a hologram image of a burning candle, and everyone laughed as Bud pretended to blow it out.

Elizabeth looked around at her group of friends. She loved this life. The camaraderie that had formed over the past three and a half months.

Most of all she loved the hand that was resting on her. When Elizabeth had first sat down at the table to eat her lunch, Jack had set his fork down and put his arm casually around her shoulder.

In the last twenty minutes, he hadn't removed it once. Elizabeth smiled when she looked at his plate of food which had gone untouched since she arrived. He had even declined a slice of cake with an excuse that he wasn't hungry, but Elizabeth suspected that he just didn't wanted to take his arm off of her.

 _It must be love. He'll tell me again. We just haven't had any time alone._

 _Please don't make me wait days or even weeks._

 _Please tell me you love me again,_ she thought as she put a forkful of lemon cake in her mouth.

As people finished eating and started to leave the table, Jack turned to Elizabeth.

"What are you plans now?"

"I thought I should send a message home to my family."

"I'll walk with you. I've got to go see the Captain."

* * *

Five minutes later, Jack gave her a peck on the cheek when they reached the Captain's quarters. When she walked away, Elizabeth shook her head in bafflement.

Not one word. Jack hadn't said one word about how he had told her that he loved her yesterday.

 _It was a pity 'I love you'_ , Elizabeth thought sadly. _He only said it because he thought I was about to die._

 _I don't want a pity love!_

* * *

"Well that wasn't enlightening", Elizabeth thought in frustration as she left the horticulture plant nursery.

After sending a message to her family – and trying to minimize her damaged face by wearing her hair casually over the side, and stopping by the infirmary to let the doctor know that didn't need any more pain-killers, Elizabeth had made her way to the trees. The place that felt most like Earth.

Lori, looking as sexy as always, had been useless. Although Elizabeth hadn't meant to tell the woman about Jack's declaration of love, and then his silence on the issue, it had somehow spilled out when the woman had handed her syringes of plant food and they gone from plant to plant injecting each one.

"Why don't you just tell him zhat you love him?", Lori had questioned as she shrugged off Elizabeth's concern that the man should be the first to declare his love. "I told my husband zhat I loved him before he told me."

 _I don't know where she comes from, but where I come from, he should say it first. For real this time. Not under duress,_ Elizabeth thought.

* * *

"Elizabeth," Jack called out as he came down the corridor and saw her stepping off the elevator. "I was just looking for you."

"You were?" she said with renewed hope "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Nope. Not really. I just thought we could hang out. Unless you're busy?"

"Not busy. Hanging out is perfect", she said as she took his hand in hers and smiled.

 _He told me once. That's good enough for now. I can wait weeks if that's what it takes._

 _Darn, I don't want to wait weeks._

They walked side by side in the hallway. Swinging their arms gently together. Laughing about how the artificial gravity had been turned off yesterday just as Abigail was working on a pot of stew which had apparently resulted in bits of carrots, potatoes, peas, and gravy to go floating around the kitchen.

The voice over the intercom interrupted their laughter as one of the crew members made the day's announcements.

" . .. . **and now for your listening pleasure. We thought that after yesterday's incident on the transporter, we would play a recording from our talent show night. Yes, listeners, this is our intrepid school teacher. Not only can she fight a criminal and deprogram a mini-transporter, but she can sing. So, let's give our big hand to our fourth place winner as we listen to her and Officer Thornton** ," the voice announced.

 _You fill up my senses, like a night in a forest, like the mountains in spring time, like a walk in the rain. . . ._

Elizabeth and Jack smiled broadly at each other as their voices echoed through the transporter, and Jack began to hum along.

"That's our song," Elizabeth declared unnecessarily with a happy smile as she leaned against the wall.

They had reached their living quarters, but instead of going inside, they stood off to the side – now out of habit because they always kissed before they went back to being just roommates in their shared living quarters.

"Technically, I think it's Annie's Song," Jack corrected her as he stood facing her body.

"It's _my_ eyes that you said remind you of a sleepy blue ocean," Elizabeth challenged.

"Actually, you have one eye that's like a sleepy blue ocean and the other is like a tempest in a black and purple stormy sea."

"I love you," she blurted out. Unable to wait any longer.

Jack smiled. "I was wondering when you were going to tell me."

"I was waiting for you to tell me again", she replied, suddenly nervous when she realized that he hadn't returned her sentiment.

Jack chuckled. "I told you plenty of times without getting a proper response from you." He gently pushed a curl away from her swollen and discolored eye.

"You told me when I was about to die!" Elizabeth protested. "That doesn't count."

"I think every time counts. And besides, I've told you several times since then."

Elizabeth gave him a confused look. "When?"

"When I held you in my arms after you dropped from the ceiling."

"I couldn't hear you! There were all those people there", Elizabeth explained as she recalled the crowd which had prevented her from hearing Jack's words as he held her close.

"And I told you that I loved you when I kissed you and put you to bed last night."

"I thought I dreamt that!"

"Do you often dream about me telling you that I love you?" Jack asked skeptically.

"All the time! For weeks now," she admitted with an embarrassed blush which caused Jack to smile.

"And I wrote you a note telling you that I love you. It was on my sketchpad which I left on your berth so you'd see it first thing when you woke up."

"I didn't see it."

"How could you miss it? I wrote it in letters one inch high."

"I knocked over your sketchpad and the pages flipped," she admitted with a guilty shrug.

"And I sent you a message telling you that I love you to which you didn't respond."

"My messenger is out of power! I didn't get it!"

"I thought I told you to always keep that charged," he said reprovingly.

"I forgot", she admitted with a grimace.

"It seems like you have an excuse for everything."

"They are all justified," she challenged.

"I'll be the judge of that," he said. He started to twirl a lock of her hair which had the intended consequence of making it difficult for her to concentrate on anything but how much she wanted him to kiss her.

"Are you saying that you are pleading not guilty to failing to reply to my many declarations of love?" he asked in a professional voice, but she noticed the twinkle in his eyes.

"If I plead guilty, what's the penalty?" Elizabeth asked with a curious smile.

"Penalty. Hmmm. I'll have think about that." Jack paused as if contemplating the situation. He moved one of his hands to her waist.

"Well, it can never happen again," he instructed her.

"I promise," she agreed quickly. "Does that mean you're going to say it again?" she added hopefully.

"I will. I think that's a certainty," he conceded while maintaining a serious pensive look as if contemplating her penalty was more important than telling her he loved her at this moment.

"I did tell you four different times without a response from you. Unless you count when you started freaking out in the mini-transporter."

"I was facing death", she raised her eyebrows and reminded him.

"No excuse."

"Right," she agreed with a nod.

"I suppose there should be some kind of penalty for your oversights."

"I agree", she said breathlessly. He was moving his fingers along her side causing her limbs to feel limp and her heart rate to speed up.

"Any suggestions?"

Elizabeth moved her face closer to his and spoke softly "I'm hoping it's something like that exorbitant interest rate of yours."

Jack chuckled.

"It just so happens it is", he said as he lowered his mouth to hers.

* * *

It was a long passionate kiss that was only interrupted for the briefest of moments. Jack pulled back for the shortest but most important of all conversations. A quiet whispered heartfelt conversation before the kiss continued.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

 **UP NEXT: Scientific Principles**


	25. Chapter 25 - Scientific Principles

**CHAPTER 25 – Scientific Principles**

"How close was I to being jettisoned and dying?" Elizabeth asked.

She and Jack were sitting on pillows which they had stolen from their room and placed on the floor in one of their favorite places on the transporter. Level 3 with its floor-to-ceiling, 8-foot wide windows. The couple only had one week left on the transporter until they landed on Planet Assaymark and began their sixteen-month assignments at the colony of Coal Valley.

It had been two days since Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa, Carl's girlfriend and better known as Union Jack Girl due to her penchant for wearing a tee-shirt designed with the British flag, had trapped Elizabeth in the mini-transporter and caused a harrowing fifteen minutes.

In the time since Elizabeth had saved herself from almost being jettisoned into space to die a slow death, Jack had learned that Abayomi had been driven to damage the ship by three of the strongest motivators. Anger, revenge, and money. Anger over hearing the news of the death of her best friend, and cousin, in the explosion in Coal Valley's biosphere had been supplemented with the idea of revenge upon hearing that the accidental explosion could have been easily prevented.

When a company competing for government contracts to build transporters had approached Abayomi with an offer for her skills in engineering, it had been too perfect to turn down. And their added financial bonus for her to do some corporate sabotage had more than made up for any guilt. Her plan was quite simple. Cause enough damage to transporters to slow down colonization of Coal Valley and ruin the company responsible for the explosion and deaths. It was nothing personal against Thatcher Industries – it just happened to be the company ferrying people to the new colony. The death of the transporter crewmember, who had been paid to aid her, had been unintentional. At least according the woman.

Abayomi's plan would have succeeded if it hadn't been for Jack. She had never anticipated that a North American Defense Officer would be added to the transporter's manifest the week before launch, or that he would grow suspicious of the number of malfunctions on the ship, and begin questioning people and checking into financial accounts.

Over the past two days, Jack had filled Elizabeth in on everything. Except how close he had been to losing her.

Jack sat with Elizabeth between his bent legs. His feet planted on the floor on either side of hers. Her back lay against his chest and her head leaned back touching his shoulder.

"Why are you thinking about that? It's over with. Just keep it out of your mind", he said into her hair as he kept his arms around hers.

"I just – I just need to know. It happened so fast that I barely had to time to breathe. And I guess I need to know what was going on with everyone else. Those of you on the other side of the door."

"You know what we were doing. We were talking you through everything."

"But you knew more than me."

Jack chuckled softly. "Do you always have to know what's going on? To know as much as everyone else?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm a teacher. We're always wanting to learn more."

"There's nothing left to learn. The ensign talked you through the steps. You saved yourself."

"I need to know about what else was happening when I was locked in. What was going on outside the mini-transporter? On the other side of the door. Please."

Jack took a deep sigh before replying. "It was scary and tense and hectic on the other side of the door."

"How long did I have until I was to going to be – you know – jettisoned and unavoidably dying?"

"Define dying." Jack instructed as he wondered if he could avoid answering her question.

"Expiring. Fading away. Ceasing to exist. No longer able to do this."

Jack paused before replying soberly. "Very close. You were very close to dying."

"Define very close," she said.

"Ten seconds."

"Ten seconds?!"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe eight."

"I had only eight to ten seconds to live?!" Elizabeth exclaimed in horror.

"Yeah," he replied glumly. "Well, actually eight seconds and three days. You probably would have survived on the mini-transporter for three days until it ran out of energy and you quickly froze to death and suffocated from a lack of oxygen."

"Stop! I don't want to hear it!" she ordered.

They sat quietly. Neither one speaking as they each became lost in their thoughts.

After a minute, Elizabeth tilted her head to look at his handsome face. "And you were right there. On the other side of the door. You never left," she said in awe. "You spent the last minutes you thought I was going to die telling me that you loved me. "

"And saving your life. Don't forget that part", he reminded her with a smile.

"Jack, be serious. I was almost dead and you thought to tell me that you love me. That is so romantic."

"You didn't think it was romantic when I said it. If I remember correctly, you freaked out. Practically accused me of lying about it. Or of being very slow and late in telling you. Kind of hurt my feelings now that I think about it," he teased.

"Hurt your feelings? I was the one about to die." Her eyebrows raised in scorn.

"How about we don't talk about dying any more. It kinds of puts a damper on romance, and I was hoping to get lucky tonight."

Elizabeth punched him the arm at his last comment and then snuggled her back closer against his again. "Now that I am safe and sound, I think it was terribly romantic."

"I can be much more romantic than that," he bragged.

Elizabeth grinned. "Oh really?"

"Yep."

"Prove it."

"See all those stars out there?" he asked as he nodded to the window in front of them.

"Yes."

"I put every one out there just to make the night shine for you."

"There's no night. It's always dark here. We're not near a sun", she reminded him, but she smiled at the idea of him filling the sky with stars for her.

"Smart Alec. I'm trying to be romantic and you're correcting me."

"Where did you get all of them? All those stars you put out there for me," she challenged.

"That part was easy. It was Ero's principle of Amor."

"I think you're mixing Latin and Greek there, but you've piqued my curiosity. What's Ero's Principle?"

"For a school teacher, there's a lot you don't know. Are you sure you're qualified for this space travel?"

Jack snickered when Elizabeth gently punched him again.

"What is it? This principle that I'm apparently too uneducated to know about", she asked again.

"It's very scientific", he warned.

"I think I can handle it."

"Part one of the principle is that a person can only see the stars made for them."

"And part two?"

"For every time you think about someone you adore, a star is formed. Every time you think about talking to that person, two stars are formed. Every time you think about kissing that person, three stars are formed. And so on and so on."

Elizabeth was silent as she looked out the large window at the galaxy in front of her and contemplated Jack's words.

The blackness of space was dotted with infinite specks of shining lights as far as she could see.

Endless miles of shimmering that reminded her of strings of tiny twinkling Christmas lights.

"That's an awful lot of stars out there," she finally whispered in awe.

"Millions of millions," he said quietly as he moved in for a kiss.

 **Up next: Chapter 26**


	26. Chapter 26 - Mirror Mirror

**CHAPTER 26 - MIRROR MIRROR**

"After four months of hurtling through space, I can't believe we only have a few days left on this ship," Jack remarked as he jumped off his berth and moved past his roommates to get to his locker.

He had been working overtime to ensure that Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa's prosecution, conviction, and sentencing would be flawlessly handled back on Earth without the need for his presence.

Jack had promised Elizabeth, after she had essentially threatened to handcuff herself to him if he tried to get on the return flight, that he would not be required to physically attend any court proceedings. A dozen hologram recordings, five investigation reports, and one very lengthy typed statement were now on their way to Earth where they would be waiting for Abayomi's arrival.

"I thought you hated when people say 'hurtling through space' like we're on some rogue spacecraft. And besides, I like our tiny room. I've kind of grown attached to it," Elizabeth replied. "I'm going to love living with Abigail once we land – did I tell you, she thinks it will be no problem for me to move in with her? But I'm going to miss our living quarters."

"You said your closet back home is bigger," Carl spoke up.

"And that living with three men was worse than a classroom full of boys", Seth noted. "Although, personally, I don't think you could have asked for better roommates."

"You're wonderful roommates. When you're not snoring."

"Or whining about missing your family," Jack piped up.

"And Carl's not sneezing from his allergies, or the three of you aren't laughing at crude jokes," Elizbeth added.

"Or you're not boring us with scientific nonsense," Seth said with a look towards Carl.

"Or you all aren't walking around half naked," Elizabeth remarked.

"Hey, you love that part!" all three men responded at the same time causing Elizabeth to laugh.

She sat on the bed and looked around. It was strange. This feeling she had. Just four months ago, on a late summer afternoon, she had been rummaging through her clothes in her fancy bedroom in a mansion in Hamilton, Canada with her sister, Julie. It seemed like it had been years since then. Everything had changed. She had made new friends - wonderful friends, had new exciting experiences, and most of incredible of all, she had met Jack.

Four months ago, she had never even known he existed. Never known his taste. Never known his touch. Never known his words. And now those words were forever imprinted on her heart.

 _\- I would like to take you on a date. Where we go to the movies, sit next to each other, hold hands, and maybe you even let me give you a good-night kiss._

 _\- Outside our living quarters I would very much like to kiss you right now._

 _\- I pushed through the damn crowd to get to you just because I had to kiss you._

 _\- I know you just borrowed the kiss, but I'm going to need it back right now. With interest._

 _\- I wasn't expecting anything when I took this assignment. And then I met you and you kind of knocked me off my feet._

 _\- I love you. I really really love you._

 _\- You do realize that I find you and your logic to be absolutely irresistible, don't you?_

 _\- Millions of millions of stars._

Elizabeth smiled as she watched a shirtless Jack, wearing just a pair of shorts, get ready to go to the fitness center before dinner.

 _He's the most romantic man I know. Every word that comes out of his mouth is romantic!_

"I think I forgot to put these socks in the laundry. They stink," Jack said as he moved a pair of socks away from his nose and threw them back into his locker.

 _Okay, maybe not everything_ , Elizabeth realized with a frown.

"And my tee-shirt's got sweat stains," he grumbled. "I can't wait until we get issued new clothes in Coal Valley."

 _Okay. Maybe most things aren't romantic._

She watched as Jack pulled a wrinkled tee-shirt over his head, and then ran his hand through his tousled hair. _At least he's still handsome. Sort of. In a messy dirty disheveled sexy way._

"Elizabeth, you sure you don't want to come with us?" Jack asked as he, Seth, and Carl headed out the door.

"No. I'm good. I'm going to go over my lesson plan one more time, and make sure I have all the kids' names and a special fact about each one memorized."

"Dinner's in an hour!" she called out before the door started to close.

"Don't wait for us. We're not sure how long we'll be. We'll meet up with you later," Jack replied as he disappeared from her view.

* * *

Elizabeth was thrilled that her class would have an almost equal number of boys and girls. She lazily tossed an apple in her hand as she looked at her computer screen.

Her whole life, she had been brought up with the understanding that gender roles weren't defined at birth. That females weren't necessarily emotional or sweet or delicate or lovers of all things pink or frilly. That males weren't necessarily strong or crude or unemotional or lovers of all things dirty or mechanical. But despite all the scientific data on gender, and despite her own love of adventure and an aversion to sewing and cooking, she still believed that girls and boys were innately different.

 _Almost an equal number. They'll work well off each other. And I know all their names,_ she thought as she took a bite of the apple. _Hazel has the missing front teeth. And Billy has the mother who invented that thingamajig_. _Clementine has trouble with math._

Elizabeth crinkled her eyebrows in confusion and looked at the apple in her hand. It looked like a Golden Delicious - her favorite. But it tasted odd. Almost . . . she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

 _Oh well, an apple's an apple_ , she sighed as she finished chewing. _Maybe it's fermented some_. _Or a new variety_ _that got mixed in with the others._

The small bowl of apples had been in the living quarters for almost a week and had been left untouched by her roommates after her strict instruction that they were not to touch them. As she had explained to the men, every time that she had a craving for an unhealthy snack, she wanted an apple readily available.

Elizabeth munched on the apple again, ignored the slightly bitter taste, and wished it was a croissant. A chocolate croissant. A warm delicious gooey chocolate croissant.

 _Maybe I'll give a lesson on nutrition. Or have Abigail come give a talk. On healthy eating._

 _An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Good. The doctor's rude._

 _Here's to my health_ , she thought as she took another bite.

The juicy apple piece had already been chewed, passed her tongue, and was traveling down her throat when a horrified Elizabeth suddenly suspected what was happening. Why the apple tasted odd.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth, the esophagus is a short muscular tube – only about eight inches in length – and the bite-sized apple piece, now chewed into smaller pieces, was already in her stomach, along with the other pieces, before she could stop it.

She jumped off the berth and ran to the bathroom. Putting her finger down her throat, she gagged twice before warm vomit came up.

She held onto the metal toilet bowl and tried to retch again. Knowing she hadn't gotten all of the apple out of her stomach.

Her heart was racing. Beating too fast and erratically. But she couldn't be sure if that was from her anxiety or from the poison already flowing through her veins.

Sweat formed on her forehead and her hands began to tremble. Her palm slipped from the smooth metal surface and she fell forward slightly. Trying to steady herself with one hand, she put two more fingers down her throat until she vomited again, spewing into the toilet bowl and onto the floor around it. When she saw the red from the morning's breakfast jam, she felt confident that all the apple was also now out of her body.

She stumbled to her feet and jabbed her wet finger onto her bracelet messenger but nothing happened, and she realized in dismay that she had again forgotten to charge it.

She was starting to feel dizzy and worried that she would pass out before she could get help.

 _I just have to get out the door._

She lurched forward and banged into the wall when she missed the doorway by three inches. Ignoring the resulting pain on her forehead, she staggered out the bathroom door, and pressed the main door sensor. Her sweat dripped off it as the door slid open.

Staggering into the corridor, she crumpled to the ground.

As she lay with her cheek pressed on the hard cold floor of the corridor, a most unusual thought came to mind. It's funny how the mind works. Bringing images from old stories once read in pleasure to the present.

A vision of Sleeping Beauty floated into Elizabeth's thoughts. The innocent victim of fairy tales lying motionless in a quiet sleep. Waiting for her prince to rescue her from eternal slumber.

The metal automatic sliding-door of the living quarters opened and closed against Elizabeth's unmoving foot which hadn't made it entirely across the threshold.

She felt the door hitting against her but she couldn't get her foot out of the way. No matter how hard she tried, her leg refused to move. Nothing moved. Except her chest as she inhaled ragged breaths. But even that began to slow down.

Just before Elizabeth fell unconscious, she realized that it wasn't Sleeping Beauty who bit the poison apple, it was Snow White. And that poor woman had died before her roommates had come home to find her.

UP NEXT: CHAPTER 27


	27. Chapter 27 - The Teacher's Lesson

**CHAPTER 27 – THE TEACHER'S LESSON**

" . . . rapid blood sample shows evidence of poison . . . "

" . . lethal levels . . . . . . how long. . . ."

" . . . you got to her in time . . . ."

" . . . trembling and sweating at the same time. . . . "

Elizabeth heard the words but her brain was feeling so fuzzy that it took time for them to register and even then she wasn't sure if she was dreaming or actually hearing the words. Her last memory had been of lying weakly on the corridor floor with her mouth tasting of vomit.

She recognized Jack's voice. The other male voice seemed familiar, and then she placed it. It was the doctor.

"Thank goodness someone found me. How long was I laying on the corridor floor? I ate a poisoned apple. Like Snow White. What are you guys talking about? Where am I? How did I get here? Hey, why aren't you answering me? Can't you hear me? It was a poisoned apple!"

Elizabeth's brain was working – sort of- and in her dream she was moving her mouth and speaking aloud. But in reality, she was simply lying in the infirmary berth thinking of the words. She tried to break out of her dream but it was hard. So very hard when unnatural liquids were still running through her veins.

"Jack"

Jack jerked his head around at the sound of her voice.

"Hey dandelion, how you feeling?" he asked as he approached the side of the berth and crouched down so his head was near her face.

"Happy" she muttered. _No that wasn't what I wanted to say_.

"Happy?" Jack frowned. "Elizabeth, you're in the infirmary. How do you feel?"

"Sleepy."

"That's understandable. You were poisoned somehow. I don't know what happened. Can you tell me?"

"Doc," she mumbled and then frowned at the word.

 _Why is this so hard?!_

Elizabeth's thoughts were all scrambled. She knew what to say, but different words were coming out of her mouth. She wanted to tell Jack that Abayomi had poisoned one of her apples, but instead the stupid names of the seven dwarfs from Snow White were coming out of her mouth.

"Doc, she wants you." Jack moved out of the way, and the doctor took his place. He pricked Elizabeth's finger, and let a droplet of deep red blood fall onto a thin slip of paper.

 _No, no. I didn't want the doctor, you dopey_! she thought in frustration.

"She's still not totally clean. Give her another fifteen minutes. The IV is rehydrating her. That will help," the serious man with patches of grey in his hair remarked as he looked at the paper and watched it change color.

The infirmary door slid open and two more men, worry evident on their faces, hurried in.

"Hey, how's she doing? We found this. It's the only thing we thought it could be," Carl said as he immediately handed the half-eaten apple to the doctor.

"And there was vomit in the bathroom", Seth added.

"Yes! Sneezy!" Elizabeth called out.

A surprised Carl looked at Elizabeth is confusion. "Did she say Sneezy. Is she making fun of my allergies?"

* * *

Thirty-five minutes later, Jack, now sporting a swollen eye, sat on the edge of the berth with his palm resting on top of Elizabeth's hand as she sat up, leaning against a pillow.

While Elizabeth's body had been getting rid of the poison, Jack had been interrogating Abayomi. He had just finished explaining to Elizabeth what he had learned.

"So I was right! She was trying to inject Carl with something! And when I chased her out of the infirmary, she eventually ended up in our living quarters – still with the syringe - and injected one of my apples instead!"

"You were right," Jack conceded with a smile.

"And you made fun of me!" she said accusatorily.

It was obvious that Elizabeth was feeling much better as she gleefully thought about how she had come across Abayomi hovering over Carl's bedside days earlier. "You didn't believe me that she was up to something when I caught her near Carl."

"Yes, you were right. I was wrong. Do you have to look so smug?" he asked with a chuckle.

"I do like being right", she admitted. She paused and rethought what had happened to her. "But how did she know that I would be the one to eat the apple?"

"She didn't. She hadn't originally planned to be with the poison in our room. And she didn't care who she hurt. She figured one of the four of us would eat it. If it was Carl, you, or me, that was a bonus. Seth was the only potential victim which wouldn't make her feel delighted."

"There's one thing I still don't understand," Elizabeth said curiously as she looked at Jack.

"What's that?"

"Why is your eye swollen and starting to turn black and blue?"

"That would be where she hit me with a chair when I interrogated her."

"Your lover boy hit her back", Seth declared as he walked back into the room carrying a tray of food.

"You didn't?!" Elizabeth exclaimed in shock.

Jack shrugged before replying defensively. "She deserved it. She was coming at me with the chair again. For Pete's sake, I had to deck her."

* * *

"Tell me again how you found me," Elizabeth said as she lay in Jack's arms on her own familiar berth. The ship's doctor had decided it was too bothersome to have Elizabeth spent any more time in the infirmary. Especially when she kept insisting that she was fine, and happily began eating a large piece of unhealthy cake courtesy of Abigail.

"I already told you," Jack replied.

"I like hearing it. It's romantic."

"It's not romantic. It was down-right scary", he said. He moved his arm out from under her head where it had started to go numb.

Elizabeth readjusted her body and lay her head on Jack's chest. "Please", she cajoled him.

Jack sighed but began speaking. He hated to admit it, but he did like being her hero. "When we got to the fitness center, I realized that I had forgotten my googles for racquetball, so I went back to our living quarters to get them. I picked you up –

"You saw me from down the hallway and ran to me", Elizabeth interrupted.

"I did. I saw you from down the hallway and ran to you," Jack corrected himself. "I didn't know what had happened but you were barely breathing. I picked you up and –"

"Tell me again how you carried me. So I can imagine it," Elizabeth encouraged.

"I swooped you up and carried you in my arms. One arm under your knees and the other under your upper back. Although, now that I think about, I should probably start just doing the fireman's carry. You know, throw you over my shoulder."

Elizabeth swatted him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I've had to carry you down the hallway twice now. When you were given a sedative after the mini-transporter fiasco and you refused to sleep in the infirmary, and then today when I ran down the hallway with you."

She pulled back and glared at him. "The fireman's carry's not romantic. Don't you dare do it", she admonished him.

"You wouldn't know anyway. You're always passed out," he answered dismissively.

"I would know. I would feel the lack of affection."

"While you were passed out?" he humorously challenged her.

Elizabeth ignored his question and snuggled up against him again. "I would know," she said softly as she began fumbling with the fabric of his tee-shirt. "Just like I know you love me. Now finish your story."

"Where was I?"

"You had swooped me into your arms and were racing down the hallway."

"Oh, yes. I was racing down the hallway and got to the infirmary. Luckily, the doctor was there. I dropped you on the examination table."

"Dropped?"

"It was kind of clumsy," Jack admitted. "Then the doctor examined you and ran a rapid blood test which was positive for poison. I messaged Seth and Carl –"

"Because you didn't want to leave me", Elizabeth interjected happily.

"I messaged Seth and Carl because I didn't want to leave you, and I asked them to quickly check our quarters and figure out what had happened."

"And then you beat up that nasty Abayomi for poisoning me."

Jack chuckled. "I didn't beat her up. I punched her once. But if you like the story that way, you can say it."

"Thank you for rescuing me."

"You pretty much rescued yourself by getting out a lot of the poison so quickly. Why your dad thought you needed a personal law enforcement officer is beyond me. You can handle yourself just fine for the most part. I just come in to save you at the end."

"I like when you come into save me," Elizabeth said.

Jack kissed the top of her head. "So this is what it's going to be like if we're dating?"

" _If_? _If_ we're dating?!" She lifted up her head and stared at him.

Jack chuckled. "I meant while we're dating. You passing out. Me carrying you around in my arms. Frequent trips to the doctor's office. Me getting in fights over magic acts. You getting in fights with a woman who crawls into my berth. You almost dying _twice_. Both of us fighting a dangerous criminal. It's been quite the colorful last four months."

"Maybe we can calm things down when we get to Coal Valley."

"We don't want to calm _everything_ down," Jack said as he ran his fingers along Elizabeth's arm.

"Jack Thornton, is that all you think about?" she asked as propped herself on her elbows and leaned over his body. Her hair fell down like a curtain on either side of his face.

"Yep. Kissing you. Saving you from danger. Kissing you. Saving you from danger. It's kissing time again."

"Seth and Carl will be back soon. You can't be in my berth," she reminded him. "There's not a lot of time for kissing," she teased softly in his ear before moving her lips along his neck.

"There's always time for kissing. You taught me that." His voice was low and seductive.

"I am a very good teacher", she whispered before she claimed his mouth.

 **Up next: Chapter 28**


	28. Chapter 28 - Evaluating

**Dear Readers, I am feeling especially happy today because it's my birthday and it's snowing! Just enough snow to be beautiful and not stick to the roads - the best kind.**

 **CHAPTER 28 – EVALUATING**

"It's pretty easy to figure out who wrote each evaluation," the first officer remarked as he looked through the pile of papers in his hand.

He had been doing long-distance space trips for three years and this was his ninth, and worst, voyage ever. They would be landing tomorrow on Planet Assaymark and it couldn't come quick enough for him. "Do we really need to turn these into Thatcher Industries?"

The transporter's captain set down his cup of coffee on the metal desk in front of him and glanced curiously at the other man. "That bad?"

"It didn't help that there was a corporate saboteur onboard."

"Thatcher Industries wants a survey after every flight. We've always done it. They can't blame us for the stuff that crazy woman Abayomi did."

"It wasn't just her antics. Or should I say her crimes," he noted with a scowl as he thought of the damage. "Although there were lots of complaints about the power outages and gravity fluctuations and trouble she caused, there were also the usual complaints of a lack of a variety of leisure activities, the small size of the living quarters, the thin mattresses on the berths –"

"We are not a cruise ship around the Atlantic Ocean," the Captain interrupted with a comical shake of his head. "Do passengers understand that in order for this thing to fly, energy, electrical systems, and computers are more important than their comfort? We're just lucky the ship didn't explode or run out of energy before we reached the planet. Now that would have been a catastrophe."

"One person wrote that running out of alcohol so early in the voyage was a catastrophe. Although that could have been my wife," he added with a pensive look. "Hmm. Maybe she's getting tired of these flights."

The captain took another sip of coffee and nodded to the paperwork before continuing. "What did you mean that you can tell who wrote each evaluation? They're anonymous."

"Listen to this one. In the additional remarks section after the standard questions, the person wrote, 'I was assaulted by a jealous highly influential person during the first month onboard and no adverse action was taken against her because of her family and other relationships.'"

The captain snickered. "I'm guessing it's Ally who wrote it. Still holding a grudge against Elizabeth for that drunken bed fiasco."

"I agree. How about this next one?" The first officer flipped to another piece of paper. "I was brutally assaulted by law enforcement for no reason and then bribed into not taking action against him."

"Bribed? Hmm. I did hear something about that. It must be Wayne. Still holding a grudge against Elizabeth and Jack," the captain answered. "You know, he's a darn good magician. I still can't figure out some of his tricks."

The first officer nodded in agreement and then turned to another piece of paper. "This person said the facilities were good, but on the question of how were you treated by the crew, regardless of whether or not you were acting in the capacity of a crewmember for this voyage, the person wrote 'The cleanliness and safety of my food preparation was unnecessarily questioned by the medical officer'."

"Abigail Stanton from the cafeteria", the captain responded immediately. "She was pretty insulted when someone got sick and the medical officer made her serve packaged prepared food. I see what you mean – these aren't exactly anonymous."

"You're on a roll. Can you guess this one? It's on the question asking whether you were able to conduct experiments on board, did you lose any data. and how were the facilities. The person responded 'my facilities were good but I lost several small seedlings due to an accident'."

"That would be Lori or her husband from horticulture. How'd she lose her plants?"

"Apparently, Elizabeth knocked over a tray."

The captain chuckled. "Why am I not surprised. That Thatcher woman has a knack for trouble."

"Well then I think this next one will be obvious. 'Our parenting skills were questioned which was highly insulting'."

"Thatcher again?! It has to be her that the person is complaining about. Who else would be talking about parenting skills? Since she only has three students, I'm guessing it's the Quarrleseons. They have that boy that hid in one of the sub-levels. And Elizabeth's right. Those parents need to spend more time with their kid. Speaking of Elizabeth, can you figure out which evaluation is hers?"

"Yeah, it was pretty easy." The first officer shuffled the papers and pulled out one from the stack.

"I'm guessing she had quite a few complaints. Including almost being murdered. Twice," the Captain noted as he braced himself for a scathing evaluation by the daughter of the owner of the company that helped keep him employed.

"Actually, she gave the voyage rave reviews."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. She loved the entire four months."

"What could she possible love about it?!" the Captain asked in surprise. "It was the worst voyage we've ever had. It was one big f-upped mess."

"Listen to this," the man responded as he began reading off the paper. "How do you feel about the size of living quarters?' The person wrote ' _Perfect. Could have been even smaller and I would have been fine_.' I'm guessing that's because she was sharing with Officer Thornton. For the question 'how did you feel about living with the opposite gender?' , the person wrote _'No problem, Worked out perfectly. Better than I ever could have imagined_.' Again, I'm guessing that's because she was sharing with Officer Thornton."

"It could have been someone other than her. We actually had good match-ups of roommates. And most people don't mind sharing rooms with the opposite gender. Although, the rooms are tiny. I can't imagine going smaller. What else did the person write?"

"For how would you rate the food, she wrote ' _delicious. The croissants were excellent and Abigail is a sweetheart._ "

The captain smiled. "It still might be someone else other than Elizabeth that wrote that. I like Abigail's food too."

"This was definitely Elizabeth's survey form."

"How can you be so sure?"

"For the question 'How would you rate Safety and Security? She wrote _Handsome_. Then started to write _he's a great k-i-s_. And then crossed it all out when she obviously figured out that wasn't what we were looking for."

* * *

When Elizabeth walked into her living quarters after viewing a hologram message in the communication room, she had to step over Jack who was lying on the floor, his hands clasped behind his head, and his knees bent as he lifted his back off the floor.

"Jack, do you think we've moved too quickly in our relationship?" she asked curiously as she took a spot on the lower berth and watched him do his daily sit-ups.

"Sixty-seven. Sixty-eight. No. . . . Sixty-nine."

"Are you sure? We've only known each other four months."

Jack sat up again and paused just long enough to ask an unconcerned question. "What's this about?" he inquired before resuming his exercising.

"Julie sent a hologram and she was talking about falling in love with some pilot she met. And I know she's not really in love. She falls into a romantic infatuation every other month. With men she barely knows. But that's not us. We really know each other. And we really are in love. Aren't we? I know it's only been four months and I couldn't have imagined this before I met you. Or even when I first met you. But it happened. I love you. And _I_ don't think it's too fast. Do _you_ think we moved too fast?"

" . . . . Seven-four, No," he interrupted his counting to reply, but then he immediately went back to the up and down motions.

"Really? Because you once said that it was happening so fast."

Jack stopped in the upright position and looked at her. "In a normal situation, I would think four months is too short to really know you love someone. But this isn't a normal situation. We eat three meals a day together – for the most part. We sleep three feet away from each other every single night. We spend most of our free time together. We have talked late into the night about our childhoods, and lives, and hopes. We've seen each other all messy in the morning. I've picked your bras and panties off the floor several times because you seem to have an inability to hold onto them when you're carrying your laundry. We've been living in a tiny ten-foot by ten-foot room for 120 days. And yet, despite the closeness and almost constant togetherness, I find myself still wanting more. So, yes. I say it's love."

Elizabeth's nonsensical worry evaporated at his words and her mouth moved up in a smile. "You are so incredible. You must be the most romantic man in the world."

"That's not saying much," he teased. "Considering we're not on Earth."

Elizabeth laughed. "The most romantic guy in the galaxy. The universe. All of them. I don't know how I got so lucky."

"Can you please just shut up? Do I really have to listen to this stuff? Love, blah, blah blah."

Elizabeth's eyes got wide and she looked at the direction of the voice which was coming from behind the curtain on the lower berth opposite her.

"Carl!" she gasped. "Why didn't you say you were in there?!"

The curtain was swept aside and Carl poked out his head. "Why should I? It's my berth. And you're the one in the wrong."

"In the wrong?!"

"The rule is that the four of us are just friends in our living quarters. No romance. Right, Seth?", he asked as he called upwards.

"Right," came Seth's deep voice.

"Seth?! Oh my god, you're here too?"

The brawny geologist opened up his curtains and leaned out. "It's my berth. Where else would I be? I don't have someone to make out with and profess my love to because my wife, and my daughter, are thousands and thousands and thousands of miles away."

A gob-stopped Elizabeth looked to Jack who was sitting on the floor chuckling. "Did you know they were in here?"

"Of course. We were talking a few minutes before you came in."

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

Jack casually stood up from the floor, reached for a nearby bottle of water, and unscrewed the cap. Before taking a gulp of the liquid, he spoke.

"Why should I have? I think it's pretty clear to everyone on this transporter that I am hopelessly unequivocally in love with you. What's it matter if they hear me say it?"

"Enough! No more love talk!" Carl exclaimed in disgust. "I don't have anyone, and in case you forgot, the last girl I was hooking up with tried to kill me."

"I miss my family," Seth whined from his berth.

"How about we all get ready for tonight's party?" Jack suggested with a smile. He leaned over and gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry guys, I had to get in one quick kiss."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Jack looked admiringly at Elizabeth in her green blouse as the foursome left their quarters for the ship's final night of celebration before they landed in sixteen hours. "You wore that on our first date."

"Technically we've only had _one_ date," she reminded him with raised eyebrows. "I've got to be the cheapest girlfriend you've ever had."

Jack chuckled. "I believe you're right. And that date to the movies didn't even cost me anything. Of course . .. ."

"What?" Elizabeth asked curiously as Jack's voice trailed off.

"I did have to save your life a couple times. I mean, that cost me a few years off my life with the worry. Not to mention it cost me dates with other women when they saw that my life was monopolized with the business of rescuing you."

"Please," she scoffed. "You loved rescuing me."

"How do you know?" Jack challenged.

"Because you talk in you sleep", she answered with a smile before hurrying off to join Abigail who was walking down the corridor.

* * *

By nine o'clock, the party was in full swing. When the voyage had begun months ago, the crew, knowing that the passengers might turn to hard partying to relieve cabin fever and boredom, had secretly squirreled away several cases of alcohol, which they now brought out to celebrate the conclusion of the journey.

The crew and passengers didn't waste any time downing the surprise cache of alcohol, dancing to loud music, and being overly sentimental as they hugged their roommates and friends. Several even hugged the captain and first officer.

Elizabeth took another sip of her drink and looked around the room until she spied Jack. Dressed in clean clothes after his work-out, he had a beer in one hand as he stood with a group of guys in the corner of the room and played the usual hologram drinking game.

The atmosphere was jovial as the excited passengers thought about their upcoming adventure of living in a colony so from from their home planet.

Someone turned up the music even louder and Bud, one of Elizabeth's suitemate, grabbed her hand and pulled her into a group of men and women swaying their hips to the rhythm. Soon Elizabeth was jumping up and down with the exuberant crowd as the song changed to a fast pulsating noise.

She flipped her hair around wildly and laughed as Star, Louise, and Abigail grasped hands and circled around her in some sort of miniature hora dance.

Elizabeth didn't know why she had bothered to shower before the party. By the time the seventh song had ended, she was sweaty, had spilt beer on her clothes, and was exhilarated from dancing.

And then she saw him. From across the room. There was a break in the crowd and she could see him. Watching her. Her face broke out in a grin as he walked towards her.

"The party's going to go on for a couple more hours", Jack said in her ear above the loud noise. "Seth and Carl don't look like they're leaving anytime soon."

Elizabeth didn't bother to stop and look for her roommates. Instead, she took Jack's hand and let him lead her through the throng of people and out of the room.

* * *

"I need to stop," Jack said with ragged breath as he pulled back. He moved off of Elizabeth and sat on the edge of the berth.

After leaving the party, the couple had walked along the corridors. Holding hands. Enjoying each other's company as they had traveled the ship and visited their favorite spots together. The trees in the nursery. The large window where they had so often sat on pillows and watched the stars. Even the fitness center where weeks earlier Jack had tried to teach Elizabeth how to play racquetball but she had kept shrieking and running from the fast-moving ball until he couldn't stop laughing.

Finally, unable to keep their hands off each other any longer, they had made their way to the living quarters. Where they now found themselves totally alone with each other in the dim light.

"What's the matter?" a breathless Elizabeth asked. She lifted her head off her pillow, pushed her hair out of her face, and leaned up on her elbows.

"I can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"You know what." Jack stood up from the mattress and picked up his shirt from the floor. "I'm going to take a cold shower."

Elizabeth tried to suppress her smile. "You can't."

"Why not? God knows, I need something to turn down the heat."

"I used up all your water minutes."

"You what?"

"It's the last night on the ship. I didn't think you'd need them in the morning", she explained with a carefree shrug when Jack stared at her.

"You used up all your minutes _and_ mine?" he asked in disbelief before turning on one of the overhead lights.

"My hair needed conditioning. It's too late to argue about it now," she said simply. "The water's all gone down the drain."

"Great," he muttered. "So what do you suggest I do to handle my incredible desire for you right now?"

"I suggest we have sex."

A speechless Jack stared at her for a second before finding his voice. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

Over the past four months, the couple had shared passionate kisses. His hands had more than once - okay, quite often – found their way up her shirts and caressed her flesh. Her fingers had roamed up his bare back. They had lay in each other's embrace with the legs intertwined while they fervently tasted each other's lips. But they had never known each other completely.

"I did."

"Why are you looking so mischievous when you say that?" he challenged.

Elizabeth laughed again, pulled the pillow out from under her, and threw it at him. "I was trying to be seductive."

"You just have to breathe to do that", he said with a chuckle.

"I'm serious, Jack. Come back to my bed with me."

"It's a berth, not a bed," he reminded her with a smile as he picked the pillow of the floor at his feet where it had landed after it bounced off his shoulder. "And it's _my_ berth. I'm on the bottom today."

"We'll see about that," she said teasingly.

Jack chuckled again. "I thought you like to be on top. That's what you said our first day on the ship."

He paused and then smiled even though his question was serious. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she answered emphatically. "Aren't you sure?"

"I've been sure for weeks." Jack grinned as he looked at her from the doorway of the shower room.

As he saw her laying there with her tousled hair and disheveled clothing, waiting for him, he had a flashback to an earlier conversation. From the first day that they had ever met. He wondered how they had managed to get from that day at the airport to this. But frankly, he didn't care. He was just glad they had.

"You know, when we get back to Earth, I've got dibs on all those frozen eggs of yours," he informed her.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I love you", Elizabeth softly added as he started crossing the few feet separating them.

"Define love", he demanded in a smooth voice as he crawled into the berth and on top of her.

Elizabeth shook her head slightly. "Uh uh. I'll show you," she whispered.

Jack had never heard a sexier sentence.

 **UP next: Chapter 29.**

 **Dear Readers, Thank you so much for all your reviews! I love getting them.**


	29. Chapter 29 Epilogue

**CHAPTER 29 – EPILOGUE (sort of.)**

"I love you but you're stealing the covers."

Jack grasped a handful of bedcovers and pulled them over his chest ignoring the groan from Elizabeth as her back was left bare.

"Give them back," she muttered.

"Nope. You've had them all night. You have to learn to share."

"I'm delicate. I need more warmth."

Jack chuckled. "You are not delicate."

Elizabeth scooched her naked body across the mattress and snuggled onto Jack's chest.

"You do realize that I can't sleep when you shove your feet under me," he said when she smooshed her feet under his legs. "And I think one of your nails just scratched me."

"I need to be coddled."

"It's cuddled. Not coddled. I think we've already established that you don't need to be coddled."

"Fine," she said sleepily as she pulled her feet out from under his legs and moved away a few inches.

"Hey, get back here," Jack ordered in dismay as the woman he loved had too easily decided to leave him.

"You said you can't sleep with my feet under you."

"You can put them back," he offered. "Just no scratching me."

"Can I have the covers back?" Elizabeth asked eagerly as the room's cool sixty-four degree air chilled her exposed skin.

The temperature of the living quarters was pre-set to the level found by the directors to be the optimal temperature based on energy costs and health needs; and it couldn't be altered by the room's occupants, who were expected to wear clothing to bed.

Unfortunately, sixty-four degrees was not the optimal temperature for Jack and Elizabeth; it seemed that no matter how good their intentions to wear clothing, within a few minutes of climbing into bed, they usually found themselves naked.

"You can have some," he conceded as he pulled the blanket over her shoulders and then kept his arm around her for extra warmth and affection.

"In Hamilton, I have a four-inch thick down comforter for winter nights. It's deliciously warm," Elizabeth noted as she closed her eyes and thought about her bedroom on Earth.

For more than twenty years, she had gone to sleep at night and woken up in the morning in a room that was vastly different from the utilitarian metal and plastic room with plain white walls in which she was presently sleeping. Her bedroom in Hamilton had yellow walls the color of a lemon. Not the color of the peel of a lemon, but the color of the tart-tasting flesh inside. Pale and perfect. Soothing and not overwhelming. Two large windows had given her a view of maple trees, whose leaves changed to red and yellow just before they dropped in the Autumn. It was a beautiful room.

Unlike the scratchy wool blanket and rough sheets that now covered her, the sheets on her queen-sized wooden sleigh bed on Earth had been changed by the mansion staff with the season. 800 thread-count cotton sheets in the summer with a light coverlet; flannel sheets with the thick down comforter in the winter.

"Tonight, you can have you own single bed with all the covers you want," Jack reminded her.

Elizabeth's voice was muffled as she placed a kiss on his torso. "You know perfectly well that you'll be crawling into my berth."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that," Jack admitted as he kissed the top of her head. "So, this big fancy bed of yours back in Hamilton, am I ever going to get to sleep in it? Or are your parents going to throw me out? Because I'm some middle-class guy that seduced their daughter."

"I'm not sure yet," Elizabeth said with a yawn. "They can be kind of protective."

Jack's face frowned. "I was actually joking about that. I fully intend to share a bed with you in Hamilton."

"That's what I like about you. You know what you want and go after it."

"Elizabeth, I'm serious," a suddenly worried Jack spoke again. "Your family's okay with us. Right?"

"That depends."

"On what?!"

"On whether you give me some more covers right now," Elizabeth declared as she pulled the thin blanket up closer to her chin and burrowed herself under Jack's warmer body.

* * *

Five hours later, they had eaten breakfast, finished packing their few bags, and realized it was time to go.

Time had gone by so quickly.

They had been away from Earth for twenty months. It had been four months of space travel to the remote planet, and then more than a year in Coal Valley living in rudimentary living quarters.

They had lived for sixteen months on a small colony that grew larger every other month when transporters arrived with new scientists, workers, and their families.

When Elizabeth had first received her orders to Planet Assaymark, the colony had four hundred and sixty citizens - two hundred and thirty-seven men, one hundred eighty-two women, and forty-one children. By the time she prepared to leave, there were over nine hundred citizens.

The growing population had kept Jack and Elizabeth busy. Elizabeth with the constant flow of new students and departing of others. Jack with maintaining the peace.

While most of the men and women were hard-working with decent morals, the boredom and isolationism of Coal Valley sometimes caused tempers to ignite or someone to drink too much or someone to act out of character.

More than one man had arrived on the desolate outpost, and finding Elizabeth to be like a holiday in an otherwise boring month, had tried to woo her. Sometimes too aggressively. Which had usually resulted in a jealous Jack arresting the victim after Elizabeth had punched the would-be-suitor.

And more than one female had found Jack to be a breath of fresh air due to his occupation and lack of a rigid ordered scientific mind. Which had usually resulted in a jealous Elizabeth stamping her foot and demanding that Jack, who found the whole thing comical, tell the woman to stop following him around or asking his advice unnecessarily.

Through it all, Jack and Elizabeth had remained true to each other. Never wavering from the love they had first found on the transporter. Even when William Thatcher had encouraged one of his favorite employees, who had traveled to Planet Assaymark a few months after Elizabeth, to take a special interest in her.

Jack, more than slightly put out by the visiting six-foot three-inch engineer who had known Elizabeth for years, had informed Elizabeth that if she didn't send the man home on the next flight back to Earth, Jack would be on it himself.

"You are not getting on the flight," Elizabeth had said dismissively when Jack had made his threat four months after they had arrived in Coal Valley.

"Oh, yes I am!" he had retorted. He had spent enough time feeling inferior to William Thatcher's hand-picked prospective son-in-law in just a week. "The only reason I came to Coal Valley was because of you. And if your father thinks he can just send a replacement here – a replacement that you seem to find very charming – I can easily go home on that transporter."

"Jack Thornton, be sensible. You know that I am not the least bit interested in him. And you have absolutely no intention of leaving me on this planet without you. Admit it."

"You aren't the least bit interested in him?" Jack had questioned with a hint of worry and a lot of hope that her answer remained no.

"Not in the least. Yes, he's handsome and yes, he's got a good pedigree, and yes, he has an exceptional education -"

"So you admit he's handsome?!" Jack had exclaimed irritably.

"Well, of course. I'm not blind. I haven't been away from Earth so long that I've forgotten what a good-looking man looks like. But – " she paused as she counted and gathered some test-tubes.

"But?" he had asked coldly.

"But you are more handsome, and more incredible, and more perfect. And he's too polished and suave. It kind of makes my skin crawl. Besides, I love you so what does it matter about him? You quickly destroyed any chance of me ever loving another man because I already know that no-one can come close to how you make me feel. So, stop pretending to threaten to get on that flight, and help me carry these supplies to my classroom," she had ordered him.

And that had been the last time Jack had ever doubted – even for a moment- Elizabeth's love for him.

As for Elizabeth, who looked at the stars every night and thought of her endless love for Jack, life in Coal Valley had not always been easy. There had been good times. Plenty of wonderfully good times. Decorating a tiny Christmas tree, which was growing against all odds in a strange environment, with Jack. Celebrating birthdays with new friends. Getting warm hugs from her students. Feeling fulfilled when a young child proudly learned something after countless hours of struggling. Laughing with Abigail as the woman tried to teach her how to cook.

But she had also found herself feeling inadequate on more than one occasion. Having grown up in a prominent and wealthy family, she had no idea about the realities of life on a mostly barren planet. For months, she had been afraid to explore, preferring to stay safely in the large bio-dome.

During her time in Coal Valley, she had learned how to live with few material possessions, formed close relationships with people only to have some of them move back to Earth, teared up due to injuries incurred during Krav Maga classes that Jack had taught more for exercise than anything else, and she had stayed up late studying several nights just to keep ahead of some of her students, who had inherited the genius-level IQs of their scientist parents.

Jack had always been there. To wrap her injuries in bandages, to bring her cups of tea as she studied, to boost her confidence, to make her feel that she was strong enough or brave enough to do anything.

It had been an interesting and exciting sixteen months on Coal Valley. And now it was coming to an end.

* * *

As they stood in line to depart Coal Valley, Tessa, Seth's daughter, ran up to the couple.

"My dad said you shared living quarters on your trip here," she said excitedly. At six years old, she barely remembered her trip to Coal Valley over a year earlier when she and her mother had arrived on the transporter after her father's flight. She was eagerly looking forward to the return trip to Earth with her mother and her father.

"We did. And he was a very good roommate. He talked about you all the time. Except when he was talking about his rocks."

Tessa, who was well aware of her father's obsession with rocks giggled. "Daddy says we'll be together this time 'cuz we're a family. And families always stay together on a transporter."

"That's right. And I'll be in the next room with Officer Thornton because the rooms are arranged alphabetically. So, we'll all be sharing a bathroom."

* * *

Elizabeth sat strapped into her seat in the lift-off room. She clutched the arm-rests as she dreaded the next one hour and eight to nine minutes. This was the part of space-travel she hated the most.

"One hour and eight to nine minutes?" she asked when she looked at Jack sitting next to her. He was looking calm. Collected. At ease. Handsome.

 _Why don't these things bother him_ , she thought in slight jealously.

"Remember the final check takes about an hour. We'll hear loud sounds as the engine prepares."

"Loud sounds. Got it. No problem. I remember that."

 _I'll just think happy thoughts. Like raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens. B_ _right copper kettles and warm woolen mittens._ _Brown paper packages tied up with strings_.

"There'll be some thumping and rumbling underneath us."

"Thumping and rumbling," Elizabeth repeatedly nervously.

 _Oh, who am I kidding? Kitten and mittens aren't going to take my mind off of accelerating_ to _more than the speed of sound for lift-off, traveling close to the speed of light, my stomach feeling like it's in my throat, or worrying that if there's even the slightest crack in the transporter, we're going to explode into smithereens._

"Then there will have eight to nine minutes of gravity pulling at us."

"That's when we'll be shaking and pressed against our seats with a force twice our weight," she said.

Elizabeth's voice sounded unnaturally shrill but she couldn't help it.

"Just for a few minutes," Jack reassured her.

"But then we'll get higher and the ship will pick up even more speed, and we'll be pressed against our seats with three times our weight. That's three hundred and ninety pounds for me."

 _Darn, why'd I eat breakfast?!_

"It won't be so bad."

"It will be like a small hippo sitting on my chest making it difficult to breathe for two minutes. As we go from zero miles per hour to seventeen thousand miles per hour in eight and a half minutes."

"How do you remember all this so well?" Jack asked in bafflement

"Because it was horrible."

"Okay. Stop clutching the arm rests so hard. You're tearing them open." Jack affectionately picked up her hand and clasped it in his own.

"Okay, now you need to stop clutching my hand so hard." he said in a slightly pained voice as the blood was squeezed from his fingers.

And then it was just like her first flight. When Jack had talked to her to get her attention away from lift-off. But this time, instead of talking about singing in a bar in college and piano lessons and duets, he whispered some very interesting ideas into her ear which made her cheeks blush and other body parts tingle.

"You wouldn't really do that. Would you?", she hissed in surprise when he made one very scandalous proposition.

"I will if you want me to," he seductively whispered back as he nibbled her earlobe.

* * *

"I can't believe they let you carry this bag on-board", Jack said as he struggled slightly with their bags in front of the door with their EC numbers listed.

The lift off had been the same as when they left Earth, and the couple had been grateful when the initial thrusting of the engines had ended and the transporter with its artificial gravity was now moving smoothly through space. "It's definitely way over twenty-five pounds."

"Yeah. Oh well," Elizabeth said evasively.

"Elizabeth, what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing", she said a little too innocently as she ran her bracelet over the door sensor causing the metal door to their assigned living quarters to slide open.

"We are allowed twenty-five pounds each. Your bag should weight exactly the same as mine. And it doesn't. What did you pack in here?"

"My clothes. And a rock."

"A rock?!"

"The one from Seth. It's beautiful. With its crystals," Elizabeth replied as she thought about the rock in her bag which had been a present a year earlier.

The fifteen-pound geode was as exquisite as it was heavy. The rough gray dull outside was in sharp contrast to the inside which sparkled when the rock was cut open. The first time Elizabeth saw the split rock in Seth's work-zone, she had run her fingers along the gems and remarked that the dark blue ones reminded her of Jack's eye color. By coincidence, Jack had seen the same rock the next day; he had remarked about Elizabeth's blue eye color but then also commented to Seth that he liked the yellow streak of gems along the edge because it reminded him of dandelions.

That had sealed the deal for Seth. When the occasion arose to give them a present, the geode had been an obvious choice.

"But how did you get past the weight allowance?"

"I um. . . .don't you worry about that."

"Elizabeth," he said with raised eyebrows. "I am glad we can take the geode back with us. You know that, but I thought we were going to send it back with a cargo flight."

"I couldn't do that. I was afraid it was going to get lost or it would take it too long to get to us."

"What did you do?" he said accusatorily.

"I traded some of my water-minutes for some of Seth's weight limit."

"Traded some of your water minutes already? We haven't even been here one day!"

"It's no big deal. You'll share your water minutes with me."

"How do you know I'll share my minutes with you?" he challenged. "Maybe I want them all. Or I promised them to someone else."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "Someone else? Yeah, right," she said sarcastically.

"I may have," he insisted as he tried to keep from laughing.

"You didn't. You'll share with me."

"How do you know?"

"Because you can't resist me," she replied simply as she opened her locker and frowned at the small space. "I forgot how tiny these transporters are."

Jack shook his head silently in defeat. She was right; he couldn't resist her.

* * *

"Where do you want your bag?" he asked after putting his own on one of the top berths.

"Top berth," Elizabeth responded as she looked around the room and wondered if they could put the mattresses on the floor to make a double bed. _Darn, not enough room._

"Why am I not surprised?" he chuckled. "I believe we got in a fight over the top berth last time we flew together."

"That's because you refused to acknowledge that I had got to it first."

"I think we've already decided we'll be sleeping in the same berth this time. Because you can't keep your hands off of me. You can't resist me any more that I can resist you. In fact, I think you're the weaker of the two of us," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"It's a good thing we share a room", she teased back. "Otherwise I would have to sneak down the corridor to get to you."

"So that's why you married me? So we could share a room again on the transporter?" Jack asked as he grinned at her.

Elizabeth giggled. "I married you a year ago. And we'd be sharing a room anyway. That's what happens when Thatcher and Thornton are alphabetically next to each other."

Jack pulled her into his arms. "You mean Thornton and Thornton. And I married you just to make sure."

Jack lowered his mouth to meet hers. At the same time, he moved his hands to her head, keeping her mouth close to him. He moved his mouth on hers with an incredible mixture of love and passion.

She was aware of everything about him. The way his mouth tasted of spearmint, the faint smell of his soap, the feel of his hands as they touched her hair.

"I get two berths! And two lockers for myself!', a young girl's excited voice exclaimed as she burst in through the bathroom door.

Jack pulled back from Elizabeth with a jolt.

"Tessa, you need to knock before you come in. In case you're interrupting something important," Elizabeth admonished Seth's daughter who was now standing two feet from her.

"But you're not doing anything important. You're always kissing Officer Thornton!"

Jack chuckled and turned away, occupying himself with starting up his computer while Elizabeth dealt with the young interloper.

"I am not always kissing Officer Thornton!" a somewhat shocked Elizabeth responded.

 _I thought I hid it pretty well from the students!_

 _"_ Dexter saw you kissing behind the classroom. And Clementine saw you kissing in the dining room. Mylo said he saw you kissing at the fitness center. Margaret saw you -"

"That's enough, Tessa."

Elizabeth stopped the girl before she could say any more, put her hand on her shoulder, and ushered her back through the bathroom. "Back to your room for you young lady, and knock next time."

"I think we're going to have to keep that door locked," Jack remarked as Elizabeth closed it tightly.

Elizabeth sighed and leaned against a berth. 'Do you think this voyage will be anything like the one we took here?", she asked with a smile. "It was most unusual. And exciting. And actually quite lovely at times."

'Lovely?" Jack smirked at her word choice.

"I've been reading twentieth century novels," she said by way of an explanation of her adjective.

Jack moved the few feet across the tiny living quarters and stood in front of Elizabeth. He put a finger to her neck, trailing it slowly along her flesh.

"You and me married. Having this room to ourselves. Nowhere to go. No real duties to take up our time. I think our return voyage is going to be out of this world," he whispered huskily in her ear.

 **Dear Readers:**

 **Thanks for spending time reading this story so far and joining Jack and Elizabeth on their journey. Weeks after finishing this chapter, I decided to continue the story! Check out the next chapter!**

 **If you recognize Elizabeth's happy thoughts of kittens, mittens, and kettles, you may have picked up to a hint of that from her first lift-off in chapter 4 when Elizabeth said she was in a musical in college in which she played a nun who became a governess to a bunch of kids**.


	30. Chapter 30 - The Return Voyage Begins

**Dear Readers: I hadn't originally intended for this story to go past the voyage to Coal Valley, but I had so many nice reviews and encouragement that my mind started wondering about this happy couple. And so . . . .**

 **CHAPTER 30 THE RETURN VOYAGE BEGINS**

"What time is your doctor's appointment?" Jack called out of the bathroom as he pushed his hand under the dispenser labeled "shaving gel" and a quarter-cup of a green substance landed in the palm of his hand.

Elizabeth walked a few paces across the small living quarters and leaned against the doorway to the shower room. She watched Jack rub the gel on his face until he had a nice white foam. "Mine's at one twenty. What about yours?"

"One o'clock. We can go together after lunch", Jack remarked as he wiped a razor along his jawline.

The couple had been on the transporter for two days and were scheduled for the first of their biweekly routine check-ups to ensure that they didn't have any adverse effects to space travel. The past two days had been vastly different from their first two days on the original journey when the couple had been newly acquainted. Instead of the bickering, taunting, teasing that they had done then, these first two days had been spent enjoying each other's company as a married couple and without having to share the living quarters with two others.

"I'll stop by the security office for a bit this morning, but after our appointments, we'll have all afternoon free."

"Great. I promised I would meet with some of the children on board. They want me to help them do a skit, but I can do that before lunch," Elizabeth replied. "We should probably go around and introduce ourselves to more of the cre _w."_

"Or we can just stay in our room," Jack said with a knowing chuckle.

* * *

"Thornton", the doctor's called out as the door to the infirmary opened hours later, and the 12:40 appointment, a young attractive woman wearing a uniform and sporting a long blond ponytail, walked out and headed down the corridor.

"We're both here." Jack responded to the doctor's call.

"You might as well both come back together. More comfortable than waiting in the hallway."

The sterile-looking room was larger than the standard living quarters but not by much. It contained an examination table, two chairs, a desk, and three beds - with stiffly starched white sheets and foil heating blankets - for possible patients.

Elizabeth took a seat in the plastic chair against the wall and waited patiently while the doctor examined Jack. Even though it had been over a year since she had last seen the physician, Elizabeth remembered the man with his serious attitude from her voyage to Coal Valley. His hair had grayed more but his mood had remained the same. Dull. Professional. Stern.

After efficiently assessing Jack's blood pressure, vision, temperature, weight, muscle mass, balance, and several other body systems, the man declared Jack to be "an excellent specimen", and within fifteen minutes of entering the doctor's room, Elizabeth found herself sitting on the examination table with cuffs on all four of her limbs.

"I see you had some complaints about your wrist and back. The lower left side," the doctor remarked as he stared at his computer screen and reviewed Elizabeth's medical record from her time on Planet Assaymark.

"I hurt them during Krav Maga – it's a self-defense and fighting system," she unnecessarily explained, feeling proud that she had kept physical active while on the planet. "I thought I might have broken something, but it was just a bruise and a sprain."

"How's it feeling now?" the doctor asked as he moved from the computer to stand in front of her. He gently ran his fingers on her left wrist and then moved the joint back and forth. Extending and flexing it.

"It's fine. It only hurt for a few days. And the back is fine too – it only hurt for a few hours. It was the wrist I was mostly worried about."

"This was three weeks ago?" he asked.

"Yeah, about that. Whatever the record says."

"I noticed that they took x-rays instead of an MRI," the doctor stated as he went back to looking at her computer record.

"They said nothing was broken."

"Hmm mmm," the doctor mumbled as he kept his eyes on the computer screen.

"Do you think it was a hairline fracture of the wrist? That I should have had an MRI to confirm if it was broken or not?" Elizabeth questioned.

"You said it doesn't bother you anymore?"

"No. It's fine."

"Probably just a sprain. Let me know if it starts causing trouble again and I'll give you a splint for it. I'm just wondering why they took an x-ray rather than an MRI," the doctor remarked with a perplexed sound to his voice.

"The MRI machine was down for repairs," Jack volunteered. "It doesn't matter, does it? She's feeling fine."

"X-rays are contraindicated in some cases," the doctor replied as he removed the cuffs from Elizabeth's limbs. He hung the black cloth monitoring devices on the appropriately labeled wall hooks and picked up a slip of paper from his desk.

Well aware of the routine when the doctor had reached for the three-inch wide piece of paper, Elizabeth automatically put out her left finger, let the man prick it, and watched as a drop of blood fell onto the paper. Moving her finger, she let another drop fall in the middle of the paper, and then a third to fall on the far-left side. She - just like all the space travelers - had been regularly tested so many times for any number of ailments that the pricking of the finger was no longer bothersome.

"Any fever? Chills? Fatigue?", the doctor questioned as he looked at the paper with its now changing shades of color and then set it down on his desk.

"No, no, and no," Elizabeth answered. She tried to keep from giggling as Jack, who was sitting in the chair she had previously occupied, rolled his eyes at the doctor's boring tone and then winked at her.

"Read the third row from the bottom on the chart," he ordered.

Elizabeth read the letters aloud and realized that her vision was perfect as she said the same letters that Jack had said minutes earlier when it had been his turn to have his vision checked. Jack nodded to her and smiled when she got them all correct.

"Any problems with your teeth? Feeling sweaty? Hair loss?"

"No, no, and no." Elizabeth bit her smiling bottom lip and glared at Jack who was behind the doctor and was now comically pulling on his hair with one hand and on a tooth with the other.

"Your muscle tone is good, blood pressure, weight, temperature, vision, hearing, all good. It's important to keep exercising if you remember from your first voyage," the doctor noted in a monotone voice.

"That's how she got injured", Jack noted apologetically. "She was blocking one of my moves. We'll be more careful."

Elizabeth smiled as she remembered the incident and how concerned Jack had been when she had fallen and yelped in pain. After more than a year of practice, she was getting very adept in the art of fighting in the Israeli style which combined the best of boxing, wrestling, judo, and karate. Although she had been injured three weeks ago, she had previously bested Jack on more than one occasion. Usually when she caught him off guard. Okay, only when she caught him off guard. But still, a win was a win.

Jack now stood up in anticipation of the end of Elizabeth's routine examination. With their examinations done, he was looking forward to spending the rest of the afternoon free time with her.

"Yes," the doctor said as if contemplating something. "As I said, I was surprised that she had an x-ray rather than an MRI. Sometimes the simplest of choices can have long reaching and unintended effects."

Jack and Elizabeth gave each other a curious look at the doctor's odd statement. Both thinking the same thing; that he was a stange man and they gratefully wouldn't need to see him for another two weeks.

"What did you mean earlier when you said contraindicated?" Jack asked. His question was more of an effort to be friendly than out of any genuine curiosity as the doctor didn't seem quite finished with the examination.

"X-rays shouldn't be used on people with certain devices in them. It can cause a break-down of necessary components.

"But that doesn't have anything to do with Elizabeth," Jack responded pleasantly. "She doesn't have any devices. No hearing aids. No pace maker. No prosthetic knees."

"She does have a device," the doctor corrected Jack. "She was given a BCHD prior to departing Earth."

The doctor returned his attention to Elizabeth. "Did you tell them that you had one? Did they look at your records?" His questions made her suddenly feel like she was being reprimanded for having done something wrong.

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know. It was a young technician. He'd only been on the planet a month or so. But I think the x-ray machine still worked fine. My wrist hasn't hurt in two weeks."

"As I said x-rays are contraindicated with certain devices."

"What are you saying? That I ruined the x-ray machine," a confused Elizabeth asked. "That my birth control hormone device somehow made the x-ray machine malfunction so it didn't read my bones correctly? That I may have a hairline fracture of the wrist? Or something wrong with my back?"

"No. I think that your wrist and back are fine. The BCHD is meant to last 24 months. I see from your records that it was implanted in your left hip the week before you left Earth. It was meant to last the entire length of your time away from earth. When you had your low back x-rayed, the machine likely degraded the device which is in your left hip – the same general area. "

"Can't you just implant another one?" Jack asked causally.

"It's not that easy," the doctor replied with a sigh.

"I thought it was just a simple procedure. A tiny square," Jack remarked as he found the idea of not having regular birth control until they arrived back in Earth a bit unsettling.

"We are on a space transporter traveling through deep space. I don't have any BCHDs. They are meant to be implanted prior to space travel. Not during."

"What about condoms? Just give us some condoms," Jack encouraged as he looked to Elizabeth and then back to the doctor. Although Jack found that using a condom wasn't ideal, if that was what they had to do, they would.

"We don't have condoms stocked onboard."

"Why the heck not?!" a now concerned Jack questioned the doctor.

The doctor raised his eyebrows at Jack before responding. "Because all females are implanted with a BCHD. They are not supposed to allow them to be degraded. And because all travelers are examined prior to being accepted on a voyage, there are no sexually transmitted diseases. So, therefore, condoms are not required," he explained in a critical manner.

Jack's eyes grew wide. "So, you're telling me that we can't have sex for the next four months because we don't have any birth control?!"

"Jack, calm down," Elizabeth said as she tried to remain calm herself despite finding that the idea of not having sex with Jack for the next four months was terrifying.

"Did you hear what he said?!" a wide-eyed Jack said to Elizabeth. "We won't have any birth control for the next four months! FOUR MONTHS!"

"We do like it . . sex," an embarrassed Elizabeth explained to the doctor. "There must be some type of birth control on board. An IUD? A diaphragm?"

The doctor shook his head at the couple who were obviously still in the honeymoon phase of their marriage despite having been married more than a year.

"Pills?" Elizabeth asked hopefully but the doctor just shook his head again.

"You must have some condoms onboard," Jack argued.

"I can assure you Officer Thornton that to my knowledge there are no stowaway or contraband condoms on board this transporter."

"A hormone sponge I can insert?" Elizabeth volunteered desperately but the doctor just gave her a look of disdain.

"No sex for four months," Jack mumbled in shock as he began pacing the small room.

"We can do the rhythm method. Right?" Elizabeth pleaded as she looked at the doctor. "We would prefer. . .um. . . not to stop having sex."

"No sex for four months", a stunned Jack said as if continuing to repeat it would wake him up from a bad dream.

Elizabeth took a deep breath to allow herself time to think because the doctor was now ignoring her as he looked through her computer file.

"It will be fine. We'll do the rhythm method. I'll time my cycle," she said after a moment.

"The rhythm method?" Jack questioned. "That requires planning and timing and thinking ahead", he noted pessimistically as he ran his hands through his hair. "Geez. I can't believe this."

"Or you can . . ." Elizabeth bent her head and looked at Jack out of the corner of her eye and, hoping the doctor would at least pretend not to hear, hoarsely whispered ". . . you can pull out early."

Jack looked at her incredulously. "For four months?!"

"Settle down", Elizabeth pleaded as she felt herself becoming anxious at the thought of not having normal marital relations.

"Settle down?! How can I settle down? We're going to be sharing a 10-foot by 10-foot room for the next four months and he's just told me that I can't have sex with my wife!"

"You can have all the sex you want," the doctor calmly interrupted while only seeming to pay them slight attention as he reviewed Elizabeth's examination findings.

"Really?!" the distraught but surprised couple eagerly said in unison. They gave each other hopeful looks and Jack's shoulders relaxed instantly.

"As much as you want," the doctor said in a bored voice as he typed into his computer.

"As much as we want?"

"You can have it ten times a day for all I care," the doctor replied.

"But you said that you don't have any birth control for us," Jack's voice questioned.

"If you were trying to avoid getting her pregnant, I agree that it would be a concern. But you're not trying to keep her from getting pregnant," the doctor noted.

Jack and Elizabeth looked at each other in confusion and then turned their attention back to the doctor.

"Of course we are" Jack said in a perplexed voice. "We're in space."

The doctor typed a final entry into the computer and then turned to look at the couple before speaking.

"Officer and Mrs. Thornton, you already are pregnant."

 **Up next: Chapter 31 – The Tango**


	31. Chapter 31- Tango

**CHAPTER 31- TANGO**

"We're going to have little space aliens!" Elizabeth wailed in despair.

"Stop saying that! We are not having space alien babies!" Jack said harshly as he anxiously raked his hand through his hair.

The couple were back in the small living quarters after hearing the news from the transporter's doctor that Elizabeth was approximately two to three weeks pregnant. The walk down the corridor to their living quarters had been filled with emotions. Mostly tension, shock, and anxiety. With a strong emphasis on shock.

"How could you do this to me?" Elizabeth asked angrily as she walked past Jack and into the shower room. She gripped the sink edge and stared into the mirror. The reflection that stared back at her wasn't a relaxed blissful glowing pregnant woman.

" _Me_? How could I do this to _you_?!" Jack asked in disbelief through the open doorway.

"Yes, you. Who else?!"

"You had something to do with it too", Jack reminded her sternly. "It takes two to tango."

"If we had just been tangoing, we'd have stubbed toes. We wouldn't be in this situation. We were doing a whole lot more than tangoing." Elizabeth's voice was bitter.

"Let's just be calm and think about it," Jack suggested. Although he felt anything but calm. People did not make babies in space. It simply wasn't done. There were too many unknowns.

"I don't want to think about it!" Elizabeth wailed. "I want to take back this whole afternoon."

"Well, you can't! So stop blaming me for getting us in this situation."

"Situation?! You knocked me up!"

"I had sex with you because I love you! That's what people who love each other do!"

"I love you too but that is not the point!" she said furiously. "On earth, people can have sex carelessly. But not in space! We should have been more careful!"

She heard Jack swear under his breath.

"It was that damn x-ray," she mumbled. "And then you carried me."

"Excuse me?" Jack questioned.

"You carried me. In that way you carry me when I've been injured," she reminded him as she moved a few steps back into the main room. She tore off her t-shirt and grabbed a fresh one out of her locker for no reason other than it gave her something to do.

"What?"

"I hurt my back and wrist, and after I was x-rayed, you carried me back to our room," she again reminded him as she pulled the shirt over her head and furiously sat on one of the bottom berths.

"Because I felt bad for you! And _carrying_ you did not get you pregnant."

"You know it always turns me on when you're romantic like that," she said accusatorily. "And one thing led to another."

"I wasn't being romantic! I was just carrying you!" Jack replied defending himself.

"I've told you before it's romantic!"

"We don't even know if that was the night," he shot back.

Elizabeth glared at him but said nothing.

"I should have done the fireman's carry! But noooo," he mocked her. "You once told me that I should never carry you like that. Even if you're unconscious."

"I'd like to make you unconscious right now", she muttered.

When Jack gave her a look conveying shock and hurt, Elizabeth sighed deeply. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

"I'm sorry", she repeated. This time truly meaning it.

"I'm sorry too," he said softly as he sat down on the berth opposite hers. He put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands.

Elizabeth wiped away a tear which had somehow found its way out of one of her eyes and landed on her cheek. This was their first big argument in their marriage. It should have been a happy time. Not one filled with hurtful words and accusations brought on by worry.

"Do you think if we were home on Earth we'd be fighting?" she questioned sadly.

"I think if we were home on Earth, you'd already be picking out baby names and we'd be planning a nursery," Jack replied wistfully.

"The doctor said he's never heard of anyone getting pregnant in space. Especially not on a deep space colony. There's no blueprint for this. No literature on it", she said as she tried not to let her voice quake.

Jack stood up and moved next to Elizabeth. The mattress sinking down as he sat down and allowed their thighs to touch. His arm wrapped around her and she tilted her head so it leaned against him.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered reassuringly. "You're healthy. I'm healthy. We're going to have a healthy baby."

"Not a space alien?"

"Not a space alien," he replied as he kissed the top of her head. "Most definitely not."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

* * *

Two hours later, Elizabeth looked up from her journal when the metal door to their living quarters slid open.

"How you feeling?" Jack asked as he walked in and looked at her hesitantly.

"Okay," she shrugged. "I taped a hologram to send home but then I erased it. No reason to tell them now and get them all worried."

"I was in the communication room using their server. I had the doc come with me and we did some research."

"He said it's never happened before", Elizabeth reminded him. "Because all women are implanted or in menopause before they're allowed in space."

"It turns out he was wrong. There have been three cases."

"Three?" Elizabeth asked hopefully. "I'm not the only one?"

"Nope, you're not the only one."

"Tell me. Tell me," she ordered as she scooched to the edge of the mattress and looked at him eagerly. Like a child about to get a present from Santa Claus.

Jack's initial joy at finding information on other women who had been pregnant in space suddenly diminished when he realized how excited Elizabeth had become. _Perhaps I shouldn't have sounded so hopeful_ , he thought with chagrin when he remembered that the other women's situations weren't entirely similar to hers.

"Well," he began slowly. "There were three other cases. One woman actually got pregnant two weeks before going into space. Her device was faulty, and she had only been in space for a week when they discovered she was pregnant. She took a mini-transporter back to Earth."

"She didn't get pregnant in space and her body wasn't subjected to years of possible gamma rays, sun bursts, gravitational fluctuations, or anything else unusual. And her fetus was only in space for a week," Elizabeth noted with raised eyebrows.

"That's true. But she had a healthy baby boy", Jack said with an attempt at a smile.

"Good for her," Elizabeth said flippantly. "She was nothing like me. Other than a woman and pregnant."

"And she had been to space", Jack volunteered, trying to find another similarity to appease her.

"The other ones? What about them?"

Jack looked at his notes. "Um. One of them had been in space for a month when she got pregnant. She hadn't had a device implanted because she thought she was sterile. Turns out she wasn't. She ended up having a beautiful baby girl."

"Any problems with the pregnancy?"

"She was full term when born with no delivery problems."

"And?" Elizabeth asked when she noticed Jack avoiding looking her in the eye.

"She was healthy. A perfectly healthy baby girl. She'll probably end up being a scientist one day."

Elizabeth felt herself relax. The other woman's one month in space wasn't anything like her own two years but it was something. "Did she have all her fingers and toes?" Elizabeth asked eagerly with hopeful optimism.

"The mother?"

"The baby." Elizabeth said with a comical shake of her head.

"Um. She did. . . . .and a few extra," Jack said meekly.

"A few extra?!"

"The baby had twelve fingers," Jack admitted with a frown.

"Twelve fingers?!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

She paused and took a deep breath. "Okay, I could handle that. How many toes did she have? _Please_ tell me she had ten toes."

"She did. But . . ."

"But what?"

"They were webbed together."

A gob-stopped Elizabeth stared at Jack before she could find her voice.

"Webbed together?! I don't want my baby to look like a duck! And have twelve fingers?!"

"Now, calm down. The doctors don't think it has anything to do with space. Apparently, the woman, a scientist, liked to dabble in making her own relaxation drugs before and during her pregnancy."

"What about the third woman?" Elizabeth asked nervously.

"The third woman?"

"You said three women were pregnant in space", Elizabeth reminded him.

"The third woman got pregnant on Mock Earth, which has some similar conditions to what we had on Planet Assaymark."

"It is kind of similar," Elizabeth agreed, getting more hopeful. "How long was she there?"

"Six months before she got pregnant and then she was pregnant for a month on Mock Earth before she was sent home."

"So, she had seven months in space compared to my twenty-four that I'll have had by the time we return," Elizabeth said pensively before smiling hopefully again. "Still, it's something."

"Exactly. It's something similar to your situation. And she had a healthy pregnancy and delivery."

"And?"

"Perfectly healthy. No problems. Normal number of toes and fingers."

"AND?" Elizabeth prodded when Jack again avoided her gaze. There was something he wasn't telling her. Something about the way he said 'normal number' of toes and fingers rather than ten of each.

Jack paused as long as he could before finally answering.

"She had identical quintuplets. Five healthy identical baby boys."

The mattress made a thumping sound as Elizabeth fell back against it.

 **Up Next: The Stares.**


	32. Chapter 32 - The Stares

_**Dear readers: Thank you so much for all your reviews. It's wonderful to get them**_.

 **CHAPTER 32 – THE STARES**

Jack and Elizabeth entered the cafeteria the next morning with renewed optimism.

Last night, Jack had explained to Elizabeth that the three known pregnancies in the history of space travel, which had no serious problems, meant that there were zero cases of birth defects due to space flight. No known side effects. No known adverse consequences.

As far as scientists knew, Elizabeth had the same chance of having a healthy pregnancy as every other healthy female of her age and physical fitness living on Earth.

And since the chance of having identical quintuplets was only one in 14 billion, there was really no realistic reason for Elizabeth to keep rubbing her belly and crying. Or sob uncontrollably that her body wasn't meant to give birth to a litter -which she had done for five minutes until she started to get a headache.

Their mantra was simple. No woman had ever given birth to a child with defects due to being conceived and spending months in utero in deep space. It was as simple as that.

Reciting this mantra over and over again, the couple ignored that fact that no woman, other than Elizabeth, had actually ever conceived in deep space in another galaxy.

"Should I tell Abigail?" Elizabeth whispered as she pushed a plastic tray along the metal counter in front of her as she stood in the cafeteria line. If Elizabeth couldn't have her mother and sisters with her, Abigail, who had elected not to renew her assignment in Coal Valley for another term, was a wonderful substitute.

"If you want, but it's still really early," Jack noted quietly as he pushed his tray in front of her. "I thought women like to wait a while until they tell people."

"Pancakes. Two, please", Jack said to their friend on the other side of the counter. "How are you this morning, Abigail?"

"Good," Abigail responded. She seemed to keep her gaze on Elizabeth longer than normal for a morning food rush and then she busied herself with putting two perfectly round pancakes onto a plate.

"Same here, Abigail", Elizabeth ordered her breakfast with a smile. "I love your pancakes."

"Sorry, Elizabeth," Abigail said pleasantly. "No pancakes for you today. I have buckwheat with flax, spinach, and berries for you. I just made it a few minutes ago."

Elizabeth gave Abigail a perplexed look as the woman handed her a bowl filled with warm brown mush topped with blueberries which had been grown using hydroponics. The green flakes visible in the the mush were likely spinach but they looked like mold to Elizabeth.

"That's sweet of you, but I don't want that", Elizabeth said in confusion. "I'm fine with pancakes. Really."

"Doctor's orders," Abigail said as she stared at Elizabeth and continued to hold out the bowl with an outstretched arm.

"Excuse me?"

"The doctor gave me your menu for the next four months," Abigail explained apologetically.

"I don't know what is going on " Abigail added hurriedly in case the couple thought she had pried. "He wouldn't tell me anything due to doctor-patient confidentiality – he just gave me the menu for the rest of the voyage."

"My menu?"

A stunned Elizabeth took the bowl from Abigail and set it on her tray before she turned to look at Jack. "My menu?" she said in a hushed voice.

"It's heavy on fruits and vegetables." Abigail spoke up. ""Here's you drink. It's a mixture of tomato and kale juice."

Jack took the drink-box from Abigail and set it on the tray in front of Elizabeth, who stared at her bowl as if it was some strange entity which wasn't meant for human consumption.

"Thank you, Abigail. Have a good morning," Jack said with a smile.

"Is everything okay?" a worried Abigail asked before the couple could walk away. "I'm just concerned."

"Everything's fine. And I'm sure your buckwheat and juice are delicious. Thank you for making them," he said with another smile as he ushered a bewildered Elizabeth along the cafeteria line.

* * *

"I want pancakes. This is disgusting!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she and Jack walked away from the line of food options. "And did you see the way Abigail looked at me?"

"We'll talk about it later. In private," Jack said as they made their way to a familiar table.

Jack and Elizabeth recognized many familiar faces from their first voyage and their time in Coal Valley as many passengers were on the same length of assignments as the Thorntons.

"Hey, there," Jack greeted the diners sitting at a round table as he and Elizabeth set down their trays and pulled out their chairs.

"Morning everyone," Elizabeth, having decided that she was not going to let her buckwheat breakfast ruin her morning, said cheerfully.

A chorus of morning greetings rang out as the couple sat down amongst the group. Six-year old Tess smiled and started to say something to Elizabeth, but her mother quickly covered the girl's mouth with her hand.

When Elizabeth looked curiously at Colette, the woman rolled her eyes in disgust and then looked away.

 _I must be imagining it,_ Elizabeth thought.

 _Why would Seth's wife be upset with me?_

Elizabeth noticed it again during the meal. Twice she caught Colette staring at her only to then quickly avert her gaze when their eyes met.

* * *

"Jack, did you think Colette was a little cold to me this morning at breakfast?" Elizabeth asked hours later when they finally had a chance to talk as they walked down the corridor to the cafeteria. It was lunch time and Elizabeth was hoping her meal was a marked improvement over her breakfast.

It had been a busy morning. Elizabeth had spent hours with the students while Jack had kept busy introducing himself to crewmembers and researching his new assignment in North America.

"I didn't notice. Why would she be cold to you?"

"I don't know. She just stared at me. And glared at me."

"Stared and glared?" Jack said with a chuckle.

"And Abigail was looking at me oddly. I really should tell her about the baby. She'll just worry thinking there's something wrong with me if I don't."

"That's fine," Jack replied as he took Elizabeth's hand in his as they walked.

"Oooh, I forgot to tell you, the strangest thing happened to me earlier," Elizabeth said. "I was coming out of that room that I'm using for a classroom, and this crewmember approached me and started staring at my feet."

"Your feet?"

"Well actually it was my shoes. And then he asked to see one of them."

"Who was it?"

"I have no idea."

Jack stopped walking and gave Elizabeth a quizzical look. "Why did he ask to see one of your shoes?"

"I have no idea."

"What did you do?"

"I gave him my shoe," she answered with a shrug. "I figured he must need it for a reason."

Elizabeth gently tugged on Jack's hand and they began walking again.

"What possible reason could a crew member need for your shoe?" Jack asked.

"I have no idea!" Elizabeth said for the third time. "I was too surprised to ask him. I just reached down, took off my shoe, and handed it to him."

Jack looked towards the ground and noticed Elizabeth was wearing a stylish white tennis shoe on each foot. "And he just gave it back?"

"He took down the size, and bounced it in his hand for a bit, and looked for the wear and tear, I guess. Then he handed it back to me and walked away. It was so odd."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe they're just taking a survey or inspection of passenger footwear."

* * *

Two days later, Elizabeth had almost forgotten about the stares from Colette and the mysterious shoe man, but was still wondering if she should tell Abigail about the pregnancy. She hated the concerned look that her friend gave her every time they saw each other. To her credit, Abigail didn't pry.

There were two seats left at their favorite table so Jack and Elizabeth made their way across the cafeteria with their trays of food. The room was crowded with passengers relaxing after their day's schedules. Elizabeth tried to pretend the food on her plate was as delicious as the veggie lasagna on Jack's plate but she doubted it.

 _I'll give Colette a big smile,_ Elizabeth decided as she noticed Seth's wife at the table and remembered the awkward feeling she had the other morning. Despite the size of the transporter, the two women had managed to avoid being alone together.

 _I wonder if she's upset with my teaching._

 _That doesn't make sense. I've been teaching Tess for more than a year._

 _It probably has nothing to do with me. She probably just didn't sleep well._

 _Yes. I'm sure that's it. The small living quarters and an exuberant child can make a person grumpy._

* * *

Animated talking and laughter carried around the passengers as they devoured their meals.

All except Elizabeth, who had hungrily eaten a banana and a carrot, but was now slowly stirring a bowl of gruel. Technically, it wasn't gruel. But it wasn't exactly delicious stew or veggie lasagna either. Elizabeth still wasn't sure that the green inch long strips peeking out of bowl weren't mold.

Elizabeth put down her fork and surrendered to hunger for a bit longer.

"It was crazy," Bud exclaimed as the table's occupants reminisced about their first voyage. "No one has ever had a flight as interesting as that one."

When Jack reached over and put his hand on Elizabeth's, giving hers a little affectionate squeeze, Seth's wife abruptly put down her drink.

"It's time to go Tess," she said firmly as she stood up from table and gently pulled Tess from her seat.

Elizabeth wouldn't have thought too much of it, except she swore that Seth was now giving her a steely glare.

"For Pete's sake, could you guys watch yourself. She's only six years old. I'd like to keep her innocent a little longer," Seth said in a huff as he got up from the table and followed after his wife and daughter.

Jack and Elizabeth gave each other bewildered looks, and then Jack stood up and hurried after Seth.

"Hey, hold up. What was that all about?" he said as the caught up to his former roommate. The men allowed Colette and Tess to continue walking before Seth answered.

"Look, I know you guys are in love. And I remember sharing quarters on a voyage here. I don't expect you to keep things strictly platonic in your living quarters now that you're married, but for god's sakes, do you have to be all over each other?"

"What are you talking about? I just touched Elizabeth's hand," Jack declared.

"This time. Just remember that we're living pretty close for the next four months. I think Tess has seen and heard enough mature behavior already," Seth said before walking away and leaving a puzzled Jack standing in the corridor.

* * *

"What did Tess tell her parents about us?" Elizabeth questioned Jack. They were in the living quarters, speaking softly so that the occupants in the room which shared the bathroom wouldn't be bothered.

"Beats me. But she told them something."

"Remember how Tess walked in on us kissing the first day? And she said that we're always kissing. Maybe she's been telling her parents that we are constantly kissing. You know how kids are. They think kissing is yucky or romantic or full of cooties."

"I suppose. I just never realized how Puritan Seth and Colette are," Jack replied. "Let's just watch ourselves around Tess and your other students on board. I've got to go to a meeting with the First Officer. I'll see you later."

"Okay," Elizabeth replied as she accepted a kiss on the cheek from Jack before he walked out.

* * *

Jack had only been gone five minutes and Elizabeth was still debating if she should go to the gym or read a book on her computer when her messenger bracelet buzzed.

Her eyebrows crinkled when she read the displayed message.

 _The infirmary?_

 _I wonder what the doctor wants to tell me. He already said I'm definitely pregnant._

 _There's no need to bother Jack. I'll go by myself._

 _Probably something about my stupid menu. I should make the doctor eat it._

* * *

Elizabeth sat on her bottom berth and stared at her feet. More precisely, she stared at her shoes.

The doctor's visit hadn't gone at all as she had expected. The man didn't even want to discuss the menu which he had simply declared was mandatory when she started to bring up the subject.

He had wanted to talk about shoes.

The doctor had been professional as usual but she swore he was more excited than he had ever previously been around her. In fact, if she had to guess, she would say he was thoroughly enjoying her pregnancy and the idea of a scientific paper he could publish about it.

When the man had handed her a clunky pair of shoes and instructed her to wear them for the next four months, she had been totally confused.

"I already have shoes. Comfortable shoes. Cute shoes", she had declared as her hands sunk under the heavy shoes he had offered.

"I had these made especially for you by one of the engineers onboard. They have an extra two pounds of weight added to them," the doctor had explained as he had prodded her to put them on.

"Why?!" she had asked with a horrified look.

"As you should be aware, the transporter's gravity device does not exactly equal Earth's gravity. It's about eight percent less. Gravity on Earth is responsible for keeping our organs in the proper place in our body and actually compresses our spine slightly. Astronauts without gravity actually grow about an inch while in space due to the lack of gravity. Back on Earth, the spine condenses again and they return to normal height. In your case, I don't want your body doing any unusual expansion or condensing – other than your belly," the doctor had explained.

"Why are they so suctiony on the bottom?" she had asked pensively as she pushed on the sole of one of the shoes with her finger and felt the rubbery texture bounce back. It reminded her of the bottom of a mat for a shower or tub.

"That's to help keep you on the floor when we have slight gravity fluctuations. We don't want you lifting off the floor even a centimeter and then falling down."

"I have to walk around for the next four months with two-pound weights added to sucky shoes?!"

* * *

When Jack came back to the living quarters hours later, he didn't seem the least bit concerned about Elizabeth's footwear and actually thought it was a good idea. In fact, he was happy that the doctor was taking such an interest in her pregnancy.

Elizabeth paused in the doorway and stared at Jack who was sitting on one of the top berths. He had taken off his shirt to get ready for bed but then had gotten sidetracked by a tune running through his head, and had picked up his make-shift guitar.

The instrument was tight against his body as he strummed the strings using a piece of thin plastic as a pick.

 _He's so handsome,_ Elizabeth thought as she watched him. Jack was oblivious to her as he concentrated on changing chords.

 _Who knows how long I'll have this body and will be feeling this good?_

 _.. . . And we didn't do it the last few nights because we were exhausted with working out in the gym, and busying reading, and getting to know the crew, or the night when we had our fight and all that worrying._

 _The next nine months can't all feel this good. I should take advantage of the opportunity._

 _Gosh, he's sexy when he sings. Shirtless. With his hair falling over his forehead._

Elizabeth pulled her tee-shirt over her head, tousled her hair, licked her lips, and leaned against the door frame waiting for him to notice her.

When he didn't look in her direction, she adjusted her breasts in her lace-lined bra and cleared her throat.

An oblivious Jack finished the song and then began singing the lyrics again as he concentrated on getting just the right sound.

Elizabeth decided a more direct seduction was in order.

Taking a running leap, she reached out her arms to hoist herself onto the upper berth.

At least she tried to. With her heavy suction shoes, which she had momentarily forgotten about, she managed to get her feet only two inches off the floor before she stumbled forward.

"Ouch!" she yelled as smacked her face on the edge of the berth.

"You okay?" a perplexed Jack asked as he paused and looked up from his guitar.

"Fine", she grumbled as she pushed her hair out of her face and rubbed her forehead.

"What were you doing?"

"Trying to climb into bed with you. But these stupid shoes got in the way. I hate these things. And I bit my tongue," she whined as she tasted blood.

"Why are you trying to climb in bed with me?"

"Because I thought we might have a little fun."

"I think we should sleep separately. But I should finish getting ready for bed", Jack noted casually as he jumped down and moved past her.

"Why? Why should we sleep separately?" she called out after him as he headed for the sink. She followed him into the small bathroom.

"I don't want to get you pregnant again," Jack replied simply,

Elizabeth gave Jack a confused look. "Jack, you can't get me pregnant again. I'm already pregnant. It doesn't work that way."

"You could have two wombs," he replied with a shrug as he began brushing his teeth.

"Two wombs? What the heck are two wombs?"

"I read about it when I was doing research on pregnancies and women. Some women have two wombs. Which means that they can get pregnant twice at the same time. A baby in each womb. And they can be conceived at different times so they may be a week or two different in ages."

"Those are women who are born with two wombs! It's a congenital defect. I don't have two wombs," Elizabeth scoffed.

Jack spit into the sink. "How do you know? You've never seen the inside of your body."

"Because I had a complete check-up before we left Earth," she answered derisively.

Jack shrugged. "That was before space. You've been subjected to gamma rays and other stuff. You might have two now."

"Don't be stupid."

"I don't want to risk it."

"What risk?!"

"We already have one bun in the oven. We don't need another."

Elizabeth tilted her head and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "It's not a bun and I am not an oven. Now, can we please just have sex."

"We already have a baby in one womb, I don't want to risk putting a baby in the second one. That would wreak havoc on your body."

"There is no second womb!" Elizabeth declared adamantly.

"There might be."

"No, there might not be! I do not have two wombs!"

Jack wiped his face with a washcloth and then moved past Elizabeth. Reaching into his locker, he took out his shorts and began changing.

"I'm not willing to risk it," he said plainly.

"You have got to be kidding me! You are not going to have sex with me because I might have two wombs?! "

"I'm just trying to be prudent. Sensible."

"You are being neither!" she exclaimed. She thought about putting her hands on her hips to look sexier as she stood there in her bra but Jack had already turned away and was climbing up into one of the berths.

"I just think it's best. There are two top berths. We might as well use them," Jack said.

"The other morning, you were practically crying like a baby when you thought we couldn't have sex!" Elizabeth reminded him.

Jack scowled. "I wasn't crying like a baby."

"I thought you were going to hyperventilate," she retorted.

"That was before. Before I did research. Until I know that you don't have two wombs, we're not having sex again."

"You have got to be kidding me?!" Elizabeth huffed as Jack fluffed his pillow.

She immediately kicked off her shoes and then scrambled out of her jeans. Standing in front of Jack in her bra and panties, she knew that her body looked toned and firm after more than a year of continuous exercise.

 _He can't reject this._

"I forgot to turn off the bathroom light. Will you get it? Good night, Elizabeth. Love you, " an uninterested Jack said as he zipped his blanket around him and lay down.

Elizabeth walked a few feet into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Leaning her forehead against it, she gently banged her fist against the metal over and over again in frustration.

 _Ugly shoes that feel like I'm wearing ski-boots._

 _People staring at me._

 _Awful healthy food._

 _Two wombs?!_

Elizabeth took a deep sigh.

 _All I want is sex and a healthy baby! Is that too much to ask for?!_

 _Women on Earth must have it easier than this!_

 **Up Next: Changing Rooms**


	33. Chapter 33 - Changing Rooms

**CHAPTER 33 - CHANGING ROOMS**

Two days later, Elizabeth had had enough of Jack's refusal to be intimate with her on the assumption that she might possibly have uterus didelphys, the technical term for a double womb. Determined to settle the matter once and for all, she waited until her morning class was over and then marched in her specially made shoes down the corridor to the infirmary.

 _I'll just ask the doctor to do an ultrasound to prove that I only have one womb._

 _I'll ORDER him to do an ultrasound._

* * *

Thirty minutes later, a befuddled Elizabeth walked out of the infirmary and wondered how her visit had gone so terribly wrong.

All of it hadn't gone wrong; she had to admit that much. The ultrasound had actually gone well.

Although she wasn't far enough along in her pregnancy for anything more than the gestational sac to be seen, the doctor had confirmed that she only had one womb. She had even made him write it down on a piece of notepaper so she could prove it to Jack.

That was when the bartering began.

The doctor refused to give her the note until she had accepted his latest gift.

When Elizabeth had blatantly rebuffed the item, the stern doctor had not only withheld the note but threatened to call Jack to the infirmary that instant and inform him that Elizabeth was not taking her pregnancy seriously.

Despite scoffing at the suggestion, it seemed that the doctor got a perverse pleasure in making Elizabeth uncomfortable.

Elizabeth scowled as she walked with heavy footsteps to the security office. She needed sympathy and Jack to defend her. After all, that's what husbands are for, she reasoned. She wasn't sure it was stated in their marriage vows but it should have been.

 _This is pathetic!_ she grumbled as she considered the doctor's suggestion. Or rather, his medical order. As he informed her when she resisted, he was the transporter's medical officer and had authority over these matters.

 _How am I supposed to be taken seriously by my students if I'm wearing this?_

 _How am I supposed to do anything wearing this?_

 _How am I supposed to look attractive to Jack wearing this?!_

 _Jack will talk some sense into the doctor._

* * *

"Elizabeth, if the doctor thinks it's a good idea, I think you should wear it," Jack stated plainly as he watched her pace the small office which served as his duty station while on-board the transporter.

"It's an apron!" she unnecessarily exclaimed in despair. "And it's awkward!"

Jack picked up the article of protective clothing which Elizabeth had thrown onto his desk. He ran his hands along the thin rubber exterior as he examined it, feeling the heaviness of the lead interior.

"I'm not saying it's always going to be comfortable. But it will protect your stomach from potential radiation. There's always some exposure that can get through the transporter's shields no matter how thick they are. We all signed a liability waiver on that when we took our assignments. Heavy ions, high energy protons, and when we get closer to Earth, there will be solar flares. I think it's a good idea."

"Then you wear it!" Elizabeth retorted.

"If I could, I would for you. But you need to be the one to wear it," he replied as he reached his arms around her waist and tied the straps of the apron securely. "Just remember that you are doing this for our baby."

Elizabeth sighed in resignation as Jack gave her a kiss on the cheek. "A baby that can't even be seen yet on ultrasound it's so small. I'm less than four weeks along. The idiot doctor couldn't see anything."

"He's not an idiot doctor. He's a very good doctor. . . I think. Let's forget about it and go eat. And if you eat all your prescribed but disgusting food, I'll slip you some of my dessert."

"Promise?" she asked hopefully.

"Promise," he replied with a chuckle.

"I've got something for you too," Elizabeth said with a smile as she pulled a piece of paper out of the back pocket of her jeans.

Jack read the doctor's note and smiled. "We can always skip eating and go straight to our living quarters," he suggested.

Elizabeth laughed. "No. I want my dessert first."

* * *

As the couple made their way down the hallway, Jack informed Elizabeth that he had had another talk with Seth. It turns out Seth and Colette had gotten the wrong impression of what their daughter Tess had overheard through the adjoining living quarters one afternoon when they had left her alone.

"So, she told them that she sees us kissing all the time, and that she heard us screaming 'I love you'. Which they seemed to think we said in the throes of passion because she also heard the word 'sex' ?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Yep. She told them that you said something about _careless_ sex, and me _turning you on._ She was confused by that phrase, a little worried you might be a robot, and asked them how I _turn you on_."

"Eeek."

"They had a debate about whether to let her believe that you were a robot or be upfront and explain what 'me turning you on' really means."

"I hope they didn't let her think I'm a robot!"

"No, they delicately explained that married people like to kiss and my kisses make you happy like a light bulb being turned on."

"Oh," Elizabeth said. "Okay, that's not so bad."

"But then she told them that she overhead us talking about romance and tangoing."

"That's not so bad either."

"Except she said that she also heard us talking about me acting like a fireman and carrying you around. Which they assumed meant we were doing some kind of kinky sexual role-playing."

"We were also talking about space alien babies. Did they think we were role-playing alien sex?" Elizabeth scoffed.

"Yeah, that part kind of creeped them out," Jack replied.

* * *

"Jack, we can't keep this a secret much longer", Elizabeth declared after their meal in the cafeteria. "Between my strange diet, my shoes, and now a lead apron, I am getting a lot of strange looks. Abigail practically vaulted over the counter to hug me. I felt like she was going to put her hand on my forehead and check my temperature. She thinks I'm dying."

"She does not think you're dying", Jack snickered. "But you're right. People are starting to stare. And whisper."

"I only have a few students but you know every single one of them is going to be asking why I'm wearing a lead vest like a dental patient ready to get an x-ray."

"Maybe we can say it's some kind of experiment?"

"Do you think –"

Elizabeth was about to ask Jack if they should just tell people about the pregnancy, when they turned a corner and noticed three men dressed in crew uniforms entering their living quarters down the hall.

"What's going on? It's not laundry day," a perplexed Elizabeth noted.

"And laundry doesn't take three men," Jack said sternly as they quickened their pace.

* * *

"I get a top berth," a male's voice called out.

"No problem. I like the bottom," another man answered.

"I'll notify the Thorntons to move their stuff out. And then Steve and Marty can move in. Go ahead and put your stuff in the empty lockers," a man with a small computer pad noted as he looked around the room.

"What's going on? Why do we need to move our stuff out? Where are we going?" Jack asked. They stood in the doorway of their room and watched as the men chose berths and made themselves at home.

"Officer Thornton, I'm Ensign Powers," the man with the computer said in a friendly tone as he turned towards Jack. "I was just sending a message to you and your wife. You two are being moved to another room. "

"Why?"

"Orders of the ship's doctor. He wants Mrs. Thornton in a room with the least amount of exposure to space's radiation. Not sure why but that's what he ordered. This room is closer to the ship's outside walls so we're moving you to a more interior room. It's in the crewmember section of the ship but that has the least possibility of radiation from space or the power supply room."

"Now?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"Yeah, the doc says he can't believe he didn't think about it earlier."

When the flabbergasted couple just stood there, the crewmember continued. "If you can clear out your lockers, that'd be great. I've already notified the laundry to change all the bed sheets and towels."

* * *

Elizabeth and Jack, carrying their bags, looked at room numbers as they made their way through the ship. After clearing out their lockers, Ensign Powers had rescanned their transporter bracelets; thereby, changing their access codes to their newly assigned room.

Elizabeth decided it was best not to complain about her heavy shoes and apron as Jack grumbled in the elevator that he was once again carrying the twenty-five-pound geode she had brought aboard.

"When I said I was looking forward to some physical activity in our room, this isn't what I meant", Jack said sourly.

She gave him a soft smile as they approached their quarters. "I'll still have just one womb in our new quarters. We can have plenty of physical activity."

"Do you think the crew living quarters are any different than ours?" Elizabeth asked as Jack stopped in front of a door.

"We'll find out soon enough."

When Jack scanned his bracelet across the sensor, the metal door slid open revealing their new living quarters. Metal. Plastic. Berths attached to walls. It looked similar to their old room.

With one notable exception.

An attractive woman wearing a sports bra and very tiny shorts was dancing to music in the center of the room.

Her perfect skin glistened with small beads of moisture.

Her long hair bounced in curls as she jumped up and down to a beat only she could hear.

* * *

"Excuse me. Miss. Excuse me. Miss," Jack called out as Elizabeth stared at the woman, whose headphones had kept her from noticing the door sliding open.

"Oh my gosh!" the girl exclaimed in surprise when she turned around in a dance move and noticed them."

She lowered her headphones and smiled. "Sorry about that. I didn't hear you. I'm Candy. We met the other day at the gym. Welcome, roomies."

Elizabeth and Jack looked at each other in confusion and then back at Candy.

"Roomies?" Elizabeth asked as she mentally took appraisal of the lithe woman in front of her.

"Yeah. Didn't you get the message? . . . You must have because you're here," she added with a laugh. "The guys were moved to your room and you were moved here."

"We get that. But what are _you_ doing here?" Jack asked. He was still holding their bags which seemed to be heavier by the second.

"This is my assigned room. I'm in berth B."

Elizabeth and Jack looked around the room and for the first time noticed that it was slightly larger than their previous one.

 _One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Six berths._ Elizabeth silently counted.

 _Six berths?!_

Jack set down the bags, ran his hand across his forehead, and scowled when he remembered the design of the ship.

Passengers were assigned to four-person cabins; crew members, with the exception of the Captain and the First Officer, were assigned to six-person interior cabins. Which also meant that instead of eight people sharing a washroom, there were twelve people sharing it.

"Even though only the two of you are moving down here, the billeting officer decided to move four to your place. So that this place won't be so crowded for you. Obviously, all of us couldn't move because your cabin only had four berths," Candy said good-naturedly as she took a sip of water from her thermos. When she lifted the bottle to her lips and tilted her head, Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the smooth skin of the woman's perfect long neck.

"So it's you, me, and Elizabeth in this room?" Jack asked curiously as he looked around again as if by some miracle there was another private suite attached.

"For the next four months?" he added. He tried to keep the worried anxious shrillness out of his voice, but he had a feeling it came out anyway when he thought about a lack of privacy for the rest of the voyage.

"No of course not –", Candy answered with a laugh.

 _Whew, thank goodness_ , Elizabeth thought with relief and let her shoulders relax. _She must be moving somewhere else . . . and taking her perfect butt with her._

"Becca's here too," the woman replied with a nod to the shower door.

Just then, the door slid open and a woman in her mid-twenties, wrapped in nothing but a skimpy towel, walked out.

If Elizabeth had been told that she would have a roommate more attractive than Candy, she wouldn't have believed it. Until she saw Becca. The woman casually dropped her damp towel on a berth and reached into her locker for some clothes.

"Hi guys, you must be our new roommates", the naked unconcerned woman said in a friendly manner as she bent over, and slipped one foot and then the other into a neon pink pair of panties.

 **Up Next: For the baby**


	34. Chapter 34 - Sound

**CHAPTER 34 - Sound**

Elizabeth stood across from Jack in the hallway and gave him a look of incredulity. They had left their bags in the crew quarters and politely excused themselves. Leaving their two new roommates to get properly clothed.

"What are we going to do?" a shocked Elizabeth asked.

"There's nothing to do. We need a room and this is where they placed us."

"There must be somewhere else. We should get our own private room! We're a married couple," Elizabeth declared. "Let's march up to the billeting office and ask."

"There is no other place. If there was another place, the billeting office would have put us there," Jack argued.

"Did you see them?! Our new roommates?!"

"Yep. I did", Jack admitted as he struggled to keep from smiling.

"Naked!"

"I saw."

"She was naked in front of us!"

"I noticed that. I _am_ in law enforcement. We're trained to notice details," Jack said with a deadpanned face but Elizabeth was sure that his eyes were twinkling in laughter.

"And she didn't even care!"

"That I'm in law enforcement or that I'm trained to notice details?"

Elizabeth glared at Jack causing him to immediately cease teasing; although he had to admit that he liked it when his wife was all riled up. It reminded him of when they had first met. In fact, if he had to choose, it was a no-brainer. His wife all riled up and irrationally jealous of other women was sexier than anything else.

But Jack also knew there was fine line between him enjoying her jealousy and her having her feelings hurt. He hoped no one would walk down the hallway at that moment and see his wife on the verge of hysteria. There had been enough stares already during the short time they had been aboard the transporter.

"Elizabeth, nudity isn't that big a deal. I've shared locker rooms with males and females. It's just a body. And most people's bodies aren't even that appealing," Jack offered as he tried to get Elizabeth to calm down, and ignore his own assessment that both Candy and Becca actually had very appealing bodies.

"She was naked and didn't even care!"

"So what? Lots of people just aren't self-conscious about their bodies. You remember how Seth and Carl changed in front of you the first day we all met."

"Would you be okay with it?!"

"With Carl and Seth being naked? Sure. What do I care? I saw naked guys all the time in gym locker rooms and my dorms in school." Jack shrugged.

"Not GUYS naked! Them naked!" Elizabeth shouted out and waved her hand towards the door in exasperation.

"Okay. Calm down. I know it's not ideal but I'm sure you've seen naked women before. You have two sisters. You –"

"Not me seeing them, you moron," Elizabeth interrupted. "I don't want YOU seeing naked women," she hissed.

Jack cringed and decided to overlook the fact that she had called him a moron which he attributed to her newly emerging pregnancy hormones.

"Look, I didn't expect to have to share a cabin. I thought we were just getting another private one for us. You're right, since we're a family group it should just be the two of us. But there's nothing we can do about it. We need an interior room and those are the six-person crew rooms. We can't have one just for the two of us. No matter how much I want privacy with you."

"Why can't we? For goodness sakes, this is one of my father's ships," a suddenly hopeful Elizabeth said. "I'm Elizabeth Thatcher-"

"Thornton." Jack clarified.

"Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton," Elizabeth remarked. "We should be able to get our own private living quarters. Even in the crew section. I'll just order the captain to make people rearrange so we have a private room for us."

"Do you really want to do that? Pull strings? Use your family name to get something. And then what? We end up making six people share a room with only four berths? Come on, Elizabeth. That's not right."

Elizabeth paused for a moment and then got excited again. "We'll have the night and day shift people share a room. While the day-shift is working, the night-shift is sleeping in the berths. And then they switch. You can easily put six people in a room like that. Heck, you could put eight people in a four-berth room."

"But that means that you have eight people sharing four lockers, sleeping on shared sheets, and unable to use their rooms during breaks. While we would have a six-berth room to ourselves. It's beyond selfish."

"We'll have the Captain give us his cabin!" she offered as an alternative.

Jack gave her a condescending look. "That wouldn't exactly make us his favorite passengers. You have always said that you are not defined by your family's money. Now is not the time to start, is it?"

"But Jack," she whined.

"And I don't want to be known as the security officer who uses his wife's name and money to get better accommodations at the expense of hard working people."

Elizabeth knew Jack was right. As much as she hated to admit it.

Jack put his arm on Elizabeth and calmly spoke. "We shared a room on our voyage over. We can do it again. It's just a few months. I'll go in there and explain that we would appreciate it they didn't walk around unclothed. It makes us a little uncomfortable."

" _I'LL_ go in and explain it", Elizabeth responded as she thought about the two women. "You stay here. I am not about to let you alone around those nymphs."

Jack smiled. "I don't think they're nymphs. I'm not sure about Becca, but Candy works in the water purification room."

"How do you know that?" Elizabeth asked as a twinge of jealously went through her when she wondered how her husband knew about the dancing woman.

"She told me when we met in the gym", Jack replied. "And you can stop being jealous," he added with another smile.

"Who says I'm jealous?" she retorted with narrowed eyes.

"No one. No one at all. It's just that I know you, and you know that women seem to find me well . . . charming," he replied with a self-satisfied smile. "After all, you fell in love with me on our first flight. I can understand how you might be worried about other women throwing themselves at me. But you have nothing to worry about."

"The only thing that a woman is going to be throwing at you is this lead apron," Elizabeth warned. "And maybe these shoes."

She moved away from Jack and walked over to the door. Just before she buzzed her bracelet across the scanner, she looked at Jack.

"I love you," he called out and gave her a playful wink. "Now go in there and handle those women."

"I can't believe we're doing this. Sharing a room for the next four months with them," she said as she shook her head in bewilderment.

"It's for the baby, Elizabeth," Jack said encouragingly. "Just remember, it's for the baby."

* * *

Elizabeth wished she could sleep like a baby. Day fifteen of the voyage started out the same way that every day for past week in their new quarters had started out. With Elizabeth awakening to the sounds of Candy and Becca getting ready for their shifts.

So far, there had been no major problems with the living arrangement. On their first day together, Elizabeth had politely but firmly laid down the law.

It really was just like the first day of school every year, she realized. Ground rules were essential.

The major difference was that instead of a roomful of children a foot shorter than her, she was dealing with two very attractive women with bra sizes a cup larger than hers.

Elizabeth had quickly let them know that they could all be friendly as long as the women remained properly clothed, kept the shower door closed when it was occupied, and respected that Jack was a happily married man.

As an added protection, Elizabeth had given Jack's guitar to Colette and Seth to keep for a while. When Elizabeth had shown up at their door and asked the couple to hide the guitar from Jack, a perplexed Colette had stared at the make-shift instrument and looked to Elizabeth for an explanation.

"Why don't you want Jack to have his guitar?"

"Because he looks really sexy when he plays it, and we're sharing a room with Becca and Candy."

"Say no more," an understanding and sympathetic Colette had replied as she took the guitar and shoved it into a locker.

* * *

Although the two female crew members tried to be quiet every morning, it was impossible not to disturb the Thorntons, who as passengers, didn't have rigid twelve-hour work days.

Although passengers were expected to use the four-month return voyage wisely by continuing with their experiments, preparing reports on their time in Coal Valley, and performing duties on the transporter as necessary, their schedules were must less rigid. Jack's days were predominately dictated by how well-behaved the passengers and crew had been, and Elizabeth – as teacher for just a handful of students – could easily change her three-hour-a-day lessons.

Today was going to be one of those days. Now that she had passed the one-month milestone of pregnancy, Elizabeth had finally felt her first symptom. Fatigue.

This morning, she had been in and out of slumber while the other women showered and dressed. She hadn't even noticed as the metal door slid open and they finally left. And she was in another sleepy fog when Jack had showered and dressed.

Elizabeth had already decided what she was going to do this morning. She was going to postpone today's lessons by at least an hour. Or two.

"I'm going to the security office to read the morning updates," Jack said quietly as he pulled open the curtain surrounding Elizabeth's berth.

"Mmm. Why? It's still earlier," she mumbled without opening her eyes.

"I'm awake already. I might as well."

"What time is it?"

"Six o'clock. You go back to sleep. I'll catch up with you later."

"Okay," she agreed as she snuggled into her pillow and felt Jack's lips touch her cheek.

* * *

Elizabeth had just fallen back asleep when her messenger bracelet began buzzing. She ignored the sound and shoved her arm under her pillow as she tried to stay asleep longer.

When there was a knock on her door fifteen minutes later, she sighed in exasperation, hung her head over the edge of the berth, and yelled in the direction of the door.

"What?"

There was another knock.

Reaching her arm upwards, Elizabeth hit the button above her head.

The door slid open, revealing a young man in a standard crew uniform. Elizabeth recognized him from the fitness center.

"Mrs. Thornton?"

"Yes. What is it?" Elizabeth pushed her hair out of her face as she looked past the curtain which still surrounded most of her berth.

"I'm crewmember Lapointe. I'm here about your training."

"My training?"

"Yes, ma'am. I messaged you, but when you didn't show up, I thought I'd check in on you."

"My training?" she repeated in confusion.

 _What training?_

The man stood outside her doorway and looked at the computer screen in his handheld device. "The ship's doctor ordered you to begin a fitness training program."

"But I already work out every day!" Elizabeth argued as she sat up in her berth and accidently bumped her head.

"Damn it!" she exclaimed. She rubbed her sore head and crawled down from her berth. "This morning? I'm supposed to have training this morning?"

"Every morning. I have an exercise regime set up for you. I know you work out regularly but the doctor thinks you should do more."

"I don't give a hoot what the doctor thinks," she grumbled but the man standing in her doorway politely ignored the comment as well as her messy appearance.

"How about you meet me in the fitness center in ten minutes? We'll start then."

* * *

Five hours later, Elizabeth was exhausted. She had jogged on the treadmill for thirty minutes, lifted weights for an hour, and swam in the ship's jet-current pool. The slender rectangular pool was only twelve feet in length and four feet dep but by the time Elizabeth climbed out, she felt like she had swum across the Atlantic Ocean.

With her damp hair pulled back into a ponytail, she had quickly eaten a bowlful of mush, which was the only way to adequately describe the mixture of buckwheat flax, berries, and spinach, and had then proceeded to her small classroom where she had spent the next three hours instructing her students in the difference between condescension and condensation, why dangling participles were bad, how to diagram a sentence, and the works of John Keats.

 _I'm exhausted and it's not even lunch time yet_ , she thought in despair as she passed two passengers walking outside of the communication center on her way to see Jack.

She was five feet away when Elizabeth was pretty sure she heard the whispered words 'cancer', 'rheumatoid arthritis', and 'diabetes".

She scowled and almost turned back to confront the man and woman, but didn't have the energy. Besides, it wasn't their fault. It hadn't escaped the attention of a single person aboard the transporter that Elizabeth was having a health issue of some kind. And since no one else in Coal Valley or on the transporter was sick, it was impossible for her to have a communicable disease. She had also been inoculated against the most virulent of diseases. That left the ship's occupants to float around a number of possible dire health conditions which she might have.

No one but her young students seemed to believe the explanation that Elizabeth and Jack had given people -that she had volunteered as a subject for a research project of the ship's doctor.

* * *

"Jack, we have to tell them," Elizabeth announced when she walked into the security office.

Jack looked up from his computer and leaned back in his chair. "Tell who what?"

"Everyone. About the pregnancy."

"I thought we decided to wait a bit longer. You even mentioned trying to keep it a secret until we landed."

"I can't keep having everyone whisper and worry about me. The whole ship is talking about me," Elizabeth said as she tried to clumsily hoist herself up onto the edge of Jack's desk. She could have easily hopped up if not for the shoes and apron she was wearing.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked dismissively.

He got up from his chair and motioned for her to take it. "I'm thinking that people have more important things to think about than what's going on with us. I thought they stopped asking questions days ago."

"That was before today."

"What happened today?"

"Today I was started on my new exercise regime courtesy of the ship's doctor."

"Uh oh."

"Exactly."

"Didn't you say that you wanted the doctor to do another ultrasound sometime? Before we tell anyone?" he reminded her. "After lunch, I've got some meetings with the Captain and support personnel. Why don't you take a nap and then go to the infirmary? We'll tell people after that if everything looks good and you still want to."

* * *

"My god, what happened?" Jack asked when Elizabeth, tears welling in her eyes, walked into the security office later that afternoon.

He immediately put down his computer and enveloped her in his arms. Ignoring the concerned looks of two men in the small office, he motioned for them to leave.

"Tell me what happened," he quietly told Elizabeth as he hugged her.

Instead of talking, she burrowed her head into his chest.

"Shh," he said soothingly. "What's wrong?"

Elizabeth wiped away a tear and but kept her head bent down. "It's nothing. I had the ultrasound. And the doctor showed me a . . . blob."

"What?" Jack asked in confusion.

Elizabeth raised her head to look at him. "I wanted to see our baby, and the doctor was doing the ultrasound and he was very quick and just pointed to a spot on the screen and said 'that blob proves you're still pregnant'."

"But that's good!" Jack said encouragingly. "We want to still be pregnant."

Elizabeth hiccuped before answering. "I want to give you a baby. I don't want to give you a blob," she said tearfully.

* * *

Jack realized that the nice thing about being on a transporter is that it is small enough that if a person wants to get somewhere it takes no more than a few minutes. No rush hour traffic jams. No red lights. No one way streets. No long-distance highways. Which were all important factors when a husband had an emotional pregnant wife.

He calmly took Elizabeth's hand in his and strode purposefully with her to the infirmary.

Once inside the room with the examination tables, medical equipment, and empty berths meant for patients, he firmly instructed the doctor to perform another ultrasound with proper descriptions. Now.

The doctor took one look at Jack's stony look, and instructed Elizabeth to remove her lead vest, lay on the table, and lift her shirt.

Elizabeth wiped away more silent tears as the doctor, under the watchful eyes of Jack, rubbed gel on her skin and then placed the sonogram wand onto her flat belly.

"See that blob in the corner, that is proof of gestation," he said matter-of-factly as all three of them looked at the wavy image on the computer screen.

Jack cleared his throat.

When the doctor looked up and saw Jack's stern look, he tried again.

"Ahem. That shape in the corner is the embryo which is a rudimentary stage after fertilization."

He looked to Jack for confirmation that he had said the right thing. When Jack glared at him and cleared his throat again, the doctor knew he hadn't.

"The fetus?" the doctor said hesitantly which earned him a low growl from Jack.

"That shape in the corner is your _baby_ ," the doctor quickly corrected himself. "I have no idea if it's a boy or a girl, but it's a baby. A fine little baby. Yes, a fine baby."

"How do you know?" Elizabeth asked with a sad sniffle. "You said you're not good with ultrasounds."

"Well, no I'm not. This machine is for me to look at livers and kidneys and other organs for possible problems. I'm not trained in OBGYN. But it's definitely a baby."

"Maybe you're wrong," she noted as a tear slid out of the corner of her eye and dripped onto the table, making a wet spot on the sheet of white paper. "You said it was a blob," she reminded him.

"It doesn't have much definition at this stage. It's just over a month. There's not much to see. Just a . . . . shape," he said as he grasped for a word other than 'blob' which clearly hadn't been the correct thing to say or the ship's security officer wouldn't have been looking at him like he was planning to lock him up.

The doctor's eyes pleaded to Jack for help as to what to do or say. He had never had a pregnant patient before. Not since medical school when he was voted doctor with the worst bed-side manner.

"Doc, please explain to my wife how you know that she has a healthy baby inside of her," Jack ordered. Jack had no idea how the doctor was going to do that, but even if the doctor had to lie or exaggerate somewhat, Jack was determined that his wife was going to leave the room happier than when she had entered.

"Yes, yes. Of course," the man said as he came up with an idea. One that actually was scientifically accurate. "One moment. One moment," he said as he hurried across the room, opened a metal case in one of his drawers, and pulled out a metal rod. The rod was half-an-inch in diameter with a small disc-shaped resonator on one end and two tubes connected to earpieces.

"This is a powerful auscultator – a stethoscope of sorts, but it will serve the purpose here", he explained as he put the earpieces into his ears.

Using a paper towel, he wiped the gel from Elizabeth's belly, and the placed the resonator on her skin. Moving it around until he found what he was listening for. "Listen. What do you hear?" he asked.

"Nothing," a confused Elizabeth said as she looked to Jack for confirmation that there was no sound.

"Oh, right, sorry. I forgot the external volume."

The man flipped a switch and the room was immediately filled with a loud pulsating noise.

Jacks' eyes got wide as the noise echoed forcefully around them. A fast pounding that seemed to take over the entire room. Enveloping them all in its sound.

"It sounds like a washing machine," Elizabeth said in surprise. "It's so fast. What is it?"

"That washing machine sound is your baby's heartbeat. And the beat – or swoosh you hear - is fast because that's exactly how it's supposed to be." The doctor said with a smile as he remembered his medical training. "90 to 110 beats per minute is the optimum level. You can count if you want."

When Elizabeth looked hopefully to Jack, he adjusted his wrist bracelet and nodded. "Begin," he instructed.

* * *

"I just wanted to be sure," Elizabeth retorted four minutes later when the doctor finally asked the couple if they would leave. It made little sense for him to keep counting. The baby had the perfect number of heartbeats the first minute, the second minute, the third minute, and the fourth minute.

As they walked arm-in-arm down the hallway, Elizabeth leaned her head against Jack's arm. "Remember what you said about our trip on the first day?"

"No. What?" a puzzled Jack asked.

"You said this trip was going to be out of this world," she reminded him with a smile. "I think you were right."

 **Up next: Chapter 35.**


	35. Chapter 35 The Announcement

**CHAPTER 35 - THE ANNOUNCEMENT**

"Elizabeth, are you coming?" Jack called out in exasperation. He had been waiting by the door of their small living quarters for five minutes.

Elizabeth opened the bathroom door and stood in the doorway. "You're not going to believe this," she said incredulously.

"What?" Jack's voice was a mixture of boredom and frustration that she was taking so long to get dressed. He looked at his watch and frowned. He was supposed to be playing racquetball in the transporter's fitness center before dinner. Although he was currently in fourth place, a few more games over the next month and he might just win the ship's tournament.

"I think I'm pregnant," Elizabeth said with her eyes wide in wonder.

"You're just now figuring that out?" he said with raised eyebrows. "What was the clue? The positive blood test? The ultrasound? The heartbeat?"

"My tight shorts. The ones you like best. Look," she said as she stood in front of him wearing a pair of tiny shorts.

"What?" a clueless Jack asked. "What am I supposed to see?"

"Look how tight they are!"

"They're always tight. That's why they're my favorite," he said with a shrug.

"Today they're really tight! I think I gained at least two pounds!"

Jack stared at Elizabeth body. "Turn around", he said as he motioned with his finger.

"Yeah, they're tight," he admitted. "Maybe it's all the strange food you're eating."

Elizabeth turned back around after having shown Jack her backside and slapped his arm. "It is not the food. It's the baby. I'm finally pregnant."

"Sweetie, you've been pregnant for eight weeks."

"But now I finally notice it!" she said happily.

"Great. Can we go to the fitness center? Seth's waiting for me."

"Okay, okay. I'm ready," Elizabeth announced as she lowered her tee-shirt down over her waist. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and hurried out of the room.

As they walked down the hallway, Jack put his arm around Elizabeth's waist, and then moved it a bit lower. And a bit higher. Feeling her body.

"Yeah, maybe you're getting there, " he said with a smile.

It was three weeks ago that they had heard the baby's heartbeat and since then, they could almost have forgotten Elizabeth was expecting. At two months pregnant, Elizabeth hadn't had a single symptom. Unless you counted the time she had called Jack a moron when they had moved into the crew quarters, or her crying when the doctor had called their baby a blob. Elizabeth began to wonder if even the fatigue which she had experienced was due to staying up late reading rather than her pregnancy.

The couple had kept their pregnancy a secret from the passengers and crewmembers. Only Jack, Elizabeth, and the doctor knew the true reason behind her healthy menu which was heavy on the fruits and vegetables, the stringent exercise regimen, her weighted shoes, and the lead apron which she wore when she was on the outer sections of the transporter.

Jack had told Elizabeth that she could chose when to tell people. Whenever you want, he had said as he had stroked her hair as they lay squished together in one of the single berths of their living quarters one late afternoon. She had argued that they both should agree about the timing, but Jack had given her the choice. You're the one having to deal with the doctor's crazy rules while I've had it easy, I'll leave it up to you, he had said.

She had kept quiet. Allowing the rumors on the ship to eventually slow down. Trying not to feel guilty when Abigail gave her worried looks. Laughing when the students had asked how her 'science experiment' was going with the ship's doctor.

Now she finally was seeing a difference in her body.

* * *

Elizabeth looked around the Cafeteria. The round tables which could hold easily hold ten diners were all full. This was always a busy time as day-workers had finally finished their shifts, and passengers were meeting to recap their days and make plans for socializing in the last few hours before lights out.

Jack, his hair still damp from a quick shower after his game, sat next to her. A smile appeared on his face as he heard the Captain's announcement over the transporter's intercom.

Everyone in the crowded room stopped talking at the same time. Not during the boring reminder not to use excess power. Or during the announcement about Friday night's movie. Even during the listing of tomorrow's morning menu, the talking had continued. It was the next announcement that caused forks to drop and tongues to stop.

They had stopped eating. Stopped drinking.

They had all stopped what they were doing to look at Jack and Elizabeth. Jack, taken off guard by the Captain's words, couldn't stop the smile from staying on his face.

While an hour earlier Jack had been hitting a ball which was 2.25 inches in diameter, Elizabeth had skipped the treadmill to talk to Abigail. And then the Captain and First Officer.

If she was at home on Earth, Elizabeth's pregnancy would have been announced in the family home, and at a girlfriend's house, and to squeals of delight at her school. The other teachers would have swarmed around her and asked if she was due over the summer break. There would be hugs and glasses of champagne- and a sparkling nonalcoholic drink for Elizabeth at her home. Sparkling apple cider was the best. Not the white grape kind of sparkling drink. She had always found that disgusting when she had been at her parents' fancy parties and given a crystal glass to toast a special occasion.

If she was on Earth, she would have gone window shopping at "Baby Bump" or "Bundle of Love". If, through the glass, she had seen an adorable outfit, she would have found herself drawn inside the store. The bell jingling as she stepped over the threshold and immersed herself in tiny clothes. Soft clothes with little yellow duck designs and flowers and tiny trucks meant to make grown women melt at the idea of a baby.

But Elizabeth wasn't toasting with crystal stemware or shopping at expensive boutiques. She wasn't on Earth. She was on a metal ship traveling through space. With a juice box in a cafeteria.

And so, her pregnancy was broadcast over the intercom between an announcement of tomorrow's menu and a reminder that the swimming pool would be closed tonight for inspection. And then once again.

" **And just to recap, in case you missed what I said, Officer and Mrs. Thornton are expecting a baby. So, all of you that were hoping to get rich from the betting pool, get back to work. Because NOBODY guessed this."**

Finally a murmur carried across the Cafeteria. Elizabeth could hear snippets of the stunned voices.

. _. pregnant? . . . in space? . . ._

 _did he say pregnant? . . ._

 _. . .is that even possible? . . . I thought women . . . ._

A hearty chuckle interrupted the whispers.

Seth shook his head as he laughed. He stood up and reached an arm across the table to clap Jack on the shoulder.

"Wait until I tell Carl. He's going to regret extending his tour and missing this. He always said she'd be pregnant nine months after returning to Earth. You even beat his prediction," the geologist said with a large grin. "Congratulations."

More people approached the table and soon Jack and Elizabeth felt themselves enveloped in happy hugs and good wishes.

When the last of the well-wishes had gone back to their own tables, and a blushing Elizabeth had delicately explained to Seth, Colette, and the rest of her table about the x-ray being contraindicated, she and Jack had made their way to the communication center.

* * *

"We've got some big news, Mom and Dad", Elizabeth said as she and Jack sat in front of the computer's camera. She hoped her family would be thrilled. She also suspected that immediately after viewing the message, her mother would dial up the city's best OBGYN and demand information on the dangers of space pregnancy.

When they had finished taping and dispatching the hologram, the couple made a similar one for Jack's mother. Elizabeth suspected that immediately after viewing the message, her mother-in-law would pull out her knitting needles and start making a baby blanket.

The communication center was on the same hallway as the security office. When the door slid open, the couple walked in and Elizabeth waited for Jack to lay down the thin mattress which he kept propped against a wall. He had had the quartermaster's deliver it weeks ago.

Whenever the couple wanted privacy, they came here.

The screens around them displayed muted images carried from throughout the ship, and occasionally a voice came across the intercom requesting Jack to handle a matter.

Elizabeth loved this time. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they kissed, sometimes they did more.

She was barefoot; having taken off her heavy shoes and socks so she could feel the cool floor on her feet. She liked to imagine it was the cool dirt from her garden back home. The one she liked to plant every spring with her jeans cuffed up and wearing a baseball cap. She could hardly wait to get back to Earth. To see a real sunrise. A real sunset. To ride horses with Jack through open fields. To feel the waves of the ocean as they lapped up on the beach.

"When we arrive back on Earth, I'll only be just over four months pregnant. That's barely even showing. I'll still have five months of pregnancy to share with my family," Elizabeth said as she nuzzled Jack's chest. "Thank goodness I only got pregnant just a week or two before we left Coal Valley. Can you imagine if I was stuck on this transporter and nine months pregnant or in labor?"

Jack started to respond but then turned his head when he heard a beeping on his desk.

Extricating himself from Elizabeth, he stood up and reached his arm to one of the computers. He pushed the blue button and watched as the report appeared on the screen.

"Everything okay?" she asked as she tilted her head to look at him.

"Yeah. Just the evening head-count. One hundred and nineteen. Everyone's healthy and accounted for."

"Good. You can come back here and pay attention to me," she said with a smile.

"We're going to get caught one of these days," he said. Despite the warning, he moved towards her anyway.

"Then you're just going to have to be quick so we don't."

Except for her socks, a smiling Elizabeth was still fully clothed but she was decidedly looking forward to being in a more natural state.

"I am anything but quick. In fact, I plan on going exceedingly slow just to prove it to you," he noted as he knelt down in front of her. His hands pulled off her shirt and his mouth moved to her bare skin. "Exceedingly slow," he practically purred.

Her body reacted to his touch as he slowly pulled off her shorts. One inch at a time. His warm lips trailing along her flesh.

* * *

His fourth night aboard the transporter, the man with the slight limp had stolen a crew uniform. It made it much easier to move about in the cargo areas. He had also figured out which night-shift workers were lax enough to never secure their living cabins. Glancing in a bathroom mirror, he ran his hand through his ash blond hair and scrutinized his face. He was a bit thinner. But that was to be expected. It had become harder to mix in with the passengers and crew in the cafeteria. He realized that as the voyage continued, and the passengers and crew became more familiar with everyone, it would be even more difficult to remain unnoticed. He was surprised that he had lasted this long but that was because he always went at a different time, ate quickly, and avoided eye contact.

He rinsed his mouth and spit into the sink. Once again, he was grateful that on his seventh day he had overheard two passengers talking and had memorized one of their EC numbers. One week without a shower had been bad enough, he didn't want to imagine how bad he would have smelled after four months.

He walked from the bathroom into the sleeping area. He had slept well.

The man looked down at his feet. The crew trousers were about an inch too short but so far no one had noticed. Next, he looked at his watch. Five forty-five. The occupants of these living quarters would be returning soon. Glancing around, he ensured that he hadn't left any evidence that he had been there. He had made the berth exactly as he had found it. Even fluffing the pillow.

The corridor was empty as he quietly walked to the stairwell.

Being a stowaway had been easier than he had imagined. He might even take in tonight's movie.


	36. Chapter 36- Roomies

**CHAPTER 36 - ROOMIES**

"Push. You can do it. Puuussshhh harder. Don't forget to exhale."

Elizabeth groaned as the well-meaning man stood by her side and encouraged her to continue.

"I can't," she whined.

"Yes. You can. Three more."

"Are you sure that this is good for the baby?" an exhausted Elizabeth asked as she stopped moving and stared at the man. "Because I don't know if you know this but I'm pregnant. And I don't think this is good for the baby."

Ensign LaPorte smiled. "Yes, I know you're pregnant. The whole ship knows that you're pregnant. And the reason I am making you work out is so that you will have a healthy baby when we land back on Earth. We want you in top physical form. Now stop stalling and give me three move reps."

The fitness center was getting more crowded and Elizabeth didn't feel like grunting in front of anyone else so she quickly pushed out three more repetitions and climbed off the weight bench.

She thought about what the ensign had said – 'we' want you in top physical form. That was the problem. Everyone wanted her in top physical form. Somehow, starting with last week's intercom announcement that she was expecting a baby, this pregnancy had become the transporter's pregnancy. Chemists wanted to test her urine almost daily, biologists wanted to know her every symptom, and kinesiologists watched her posture and gait. Everyone else had been offering name suggestions, even going so far as to putting up a board in the cafeteria for people to list their favorites. So far, all the names had - not surprisingly - had something to do with space. Star. Sirius, Celeste, Cassiopeia, Orion, Aires, Leo.

Elizabeth was leaning towards Halley for a girl because Jack loved it. He said it reminded him of when she had been worried about him on his space walk and unconvincingly lied and said she was waiting for Halley's comet. He said that they'd be spending plenty of nights waiting for a teenage daughter to come home from dates so the name was perfect.

After thanking Ensign LaPointe for his punishment, Elizabeth walked past the treadmill and across the room.

She peered through the plexiglass window into the other room. Jack, standing in the service zone between the two solid lines, had his fingers curled around the racquet's handle as if shaking someone's hand. He threw up the small ball, hit it harshly, and swiftly moved back when it rebounded off the wall in front of him

The attractive woman with the open stance was ready. She moved efficiently and attacked the ball with her own racquet.

Back and forth they went. Rushing the ball. Watching it violently bounce off the ceiling, floor, and walls. Taking turns serving.

 _She faulted_ , Elizabeth thought when the woman stepped outside of the service zone before the ball has crossed the line. _And he's not even calling her on it! He's too nice to her!_

Earlier, when Elizabeth had felt slightly jealous that Jack and their roommate Becca were heading to the gym with their goggles, she had suggested that she could play instead of Becca.

Jack had chuckled.

"You're afraid of the ball," he had reminded her with a smile. "And besides, I'm not letting you anywhere near a racquetball court. Your belly is a protected area."

 _Who knew navigators could be so attractive,_ Elizabeth thought as she watched Becca bounce around the wooden cour _t. Probably because she doesn't have to do any hard physical labor. Just stares at a screen all day. How does she manage to look attractive even in googles? Because she has such perky breasts. Perky Breast Bec_ ca.

Elizabeth rapped on the glass.

When Jack looked in her direction, she motioned that she was going back to the room to shower.

* * *

Instead of heading directly to their living quarters, Elizabeth made a detour to Abigail's.

"Eat this, it will revive you after your workout," Abigail said as she handed Elizabeth a chocolate croissant. "I was going to drop it off at your quarters later."

"Oh my gosh! Thank you!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she eagerly took the pastry. "What will Doc say?"

"Don't worry about him. He has you eating so many carrots you're going to turn orange. A croissant now and then is good for the baby."

"How's that?" Elizabeth mumbled as she had already shoved a piece into her mouth.

"A happy mother is a happy baby," Abigail sat on the berth across from Elizabeth. "Now tell me how things are going. My roomies will be gone for at least half an hour."

"Things are good."

"Even with Becca and Candy?"

"Candy's no problem. She got me some extra water minutes. She said if someone in water purification can't siphon off a few minutes for a roommate, she's worthless."

"What about Becca?"

Elizabeth swallowed. "I'm not sure if she's just not self-conscious or if she's an exhibitionist. A few days ago, she asked me if I thought her breasts were still firm after spending almost two years in space. Then she just took off her bra and showed them to me."

"What did you say?" Abigail asked in astonishment.

"Nothing. I covered Jack's eyes and herded him out of the cabin."

Abigail grinned at the image of Elizabeth protecting Jack's virtue by not letting him see a topless Becca. "What's Jack think of living with three women?"

"He actually doesn't mind. He doesn't see much of Candy, and he likes Becca. He says she's really dedicated to her job but has an energetic personality. He also thinks she's really smart."

"Not jealous, are you?" Abigail asked when she noticed Elizabeth trying a little too hard to speak pleasantly about Becca.

"Of course not. If he wants to play racquetball with her, it's perfectly fine with me."

"Good. There's no reason to be jealous," Abigail said as she took a bite of her own croissant.

"It's just –", Elizabeth began and the paused.

"What? It's just what?"

"Yesterday when I walked out of the shower, they were talking to each other and when they saw me they seemed to quickly change the subject."

"What were they talking about?"

"I have no idea."

"It was probably nothing."

"I guess you're right. But I thought I saw Becca walking out of Jack's office this morning, and when I mentioned it to him, he said I must have been mistaken."

"You probably were. Jack loves you. And isn't Becca seeing that guy from the power room?"

"That was last week. She has a new guy every week. I just don't want it to be Jack."

"We're halfway back to Earth. Then you won't have to room with her anymore," Abigail said with a chuckle.

"I am so looking forward to being home. Seeing my family. We'll be home in time for my family's annual reunion," she said happily.

"Is it a big event?"

"My mom goes all out. Food. Music. We always have some relatives stay at the house. It's a lot of fun and I've missed it the last two times. I've missed a lot. I am so looking forward to being around nature. Jack and I are talking about buying a house. With a large front porch and yard," Elizabeth said dreamily. "We're going to decorate the baby's room with stars on the ceiling."

Abigail handed Elizabeth a bottle of water. "How were they? Her breasts?"

"Perky. I'm calling her Perky Breast Becca. Jack told me to stop it but I can't help myself."

* * *

The next day, Elizabeth had put Becca's perfect figure out of her mind and was thinking about math figures. She frowned as she turned a corner, and wondered how to get her students to better understand Algebra. She had just decided that perhaps her word problems were too complicated when she looked up and saw Jack in front of her. He was about thirty feet ahead with his back to her. Before she could call out to him, he turned to the right, entered a doorway, and allowed the door to slide closed behind him.

Elizabeth continued walking until she reached the door in which Jack had disappeared, and read the sign on the wall.

 **Navigation Center**

 _That's where Becca works._

* * *

"Becca, I have to ask you something. What do you think about Jack?"

The two women were alone in their living quarters. Becca was sitting on her berth looking intently at her computer screen. Elizabeth had tried to forget about seeing Jack go into the Navigation Center, her roommate and her husband playing racquetball, the two of them talking secretively, Becca in Jack' office. But she couldn't.

Because something else had happened.

Elizabeth had just left her doctor's check-up and was in one of the stairwells when she heard voices from a flight above her. She could swear she heard the people say something about Jack and Becca. She just couldn't make out any other words. But she definitely heard the names. Together in a sentence. Like some sort of couple.

"Jack?"

"My husband Jack." Elizabeth put a strong emphasis on the word husband. "What do you think about him?"

"I think he's great. Charming. Athletic. Handsome. He's got a great smile."

 _I'm allowed to notice those things, not her,_ Elizabeth grumbled internally.

"You two have been spending a lot of time together these last few days."

"Yeah, well, we have stuff in common," the woman answered evasively.

"Like what?"

"We both live with you", Becca answered in an even tone.

 _Ohh. She's trying to be a smart ass. . . . . Or maybe not. I can't tell!_

"What else?" Elizabeth asked, trying to be pleasant.

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Elizabeth tried to judge the woman's eyes, but Becca had already gone back to looking at her computer screen.

"Racquetball. We're both good looking people. We're both dedicated to our jobs," Becca answered without looking up.

"What do you two talk about?"

"Why don't you ask him? He's your husband."

"I'm asking you."

Becca stopped typing and turned around. Her shoulders slumped as she looked at Elizabeth.

"You know, don't you?" she asked. Resignation in her voice.

Elizabeth simply stared at her roommate. _Know what? That you're after my husband? That you got my husband?!_

"Don't look at me like that. It's not my fault," Becca said dismissively. "I'm not the one who crawled into someone else's berth."

"What did you just say to me?" a shocked Elizabeth demanded.

"Look, Elizabeth," Becca said with a sigh. "I know that when you boarded this flight, you imagined that you would arrive back in Earth with a husband in four months. But things don't always go like we plan. As Jack has said 'life is messy'. Plans change."

"Plans change?!"

Becca shrugged as if she was dealing with just a minor inconvenience. "We were just as surprised as everyone else. You have to roll with the punches."

 _Roll with the punches?! She's been rolling around with my husband and she's telling me to roll with the punches! I'll punch her!_

"This wasn't my idea," Becca said defensively.

"Don't even try to tell me that it was Jack's," Elizabeth said harshly.

"What? You think this was my idea? Like I was just sitting around one day and said to myself I think I'll pick up a man in space and screw up Elizabeth's plans."

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"Just what is that supposed to me?" a surprised Becca asked.

When Elizabeth, still stunned by the conversation just stood there, Becca spoke again.

"Okay, so maybe I convinced Jack it would be okay and I could handle it. He was worried about your feelings, but we have to do what we have to do."

 _She's lying to me. Jack would never cheat on me!_

"I don't believe you," Elizabeth said defiantly.

"You don't believe me?" Becca gave Elizabeth a perplexed look. "Why would I lie to you?"

"Why hasn't Jack said anything to me?" Elizabeth challenged.

"He was pretty sure that you'd start to cry. You know how you are. Talking about being home and buying a house and shopping and seeing your family. Introducing them to Jack. You talk about it all the time. Ever since you got pregnant, all you seem to think about is Earth and making a home with Jack and the baby. He didn't want to upset you. You're pregnant. But don't worry. We're going to make sure that you don't get shortchanged on anything. You're still going to have your share. Jack insisted on that. And I told him that you're a strong woman and can handle it."

"My share?" _What the hell is she talking about? He's all mine! I don't just get a share! I get ALL of him_!

"Jack was going to talk to Abigail to make sure you're going to be okay," Becca explained. "He's probably talking to her now. Because really, you were going to find out soon enough anyway."

Just then the metal door slid open and both women swiveled their heads towards it. Jack walked in and looked curiously at the women. Sensing something was amiss.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Elizabeth stared at him. He looked so . . .so. . . Jack.

Jack Thornton. Her husband. The man who loved her. The man who was the father of her baby. The man who would never cheat on her.

 _She's lying. She's not having an affair with Jack. She's lying to me. Jack will tell me that's she's making it up,_ Elizabeth thought as she braced her shoulders and tried to be confident.

"She knows," Becca said matter-of-factly before Elizabeth had a chance to respond to Jack's inquiry.

"She knows what?" Jack asked hesitantly.

"About our plans. And don't look at me like it was my fault. She figured it out," Becca said defensively.

"Oh man," Jack said in dismay. "I was going to tell you. I was just looking for the right time."

O _kay, that wasn't what I expected,_ a stunned Elizabeth thought.

"Get out, Becca. I want to talk to Jack," Elizabeth ordered harshly.

"Don't you want her here to explain?" a puzzled Jack asked.

"No, I don't want her here to explain," she said bitterly. "That's your job!"

"But she's better about explaining the facts. She's really knowledgeable about where we're going from here."

"Out!"

* * *

Elizabeth and Jack remained quiet until the door slid closed behind Becca – who practically ran from the room at Elizabeth's order - and they were left alone.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I never could have imagined this", Jack said as he went to hug her.

She angrily pushed him away.

"How could you?!" she exclaimed.

"I don't have a choice. Come on, don't put me in that situation. What was I supposed to do? Refuse to go along just because my pregnant wife might get upset?"

 _I'm not going to cry. I won't give him that satisfaction_ , she thought to herself. But unfortunately, her mind forgot to send the message to her tear ducts. She felt her eyes welling up as she stared at Jack, who looked miserable.

"I don't understand," she cried.

"It's not that complicated. It's just unfortunate. I'm so sorry. I know how badly you want to get home. Please don't cry. It's just one person temporarily derailing things."

 _This can't be! He can't be having an affair with her! He just can't!_

"Are you having an affair with Becca?" Elizabeth blurted out.

A shocked Jack stared at her. "Good God, why would I be having an affair with Becca?!"

"You play racquetball with her!" Elizabeth wailed as she wiped her eyes.

"I play racquetball with a lot of people," a mystified Jack replied. "I'm in a tournament. That's how tournaments work. Did you never play sports as a kid?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Of course I played sports as a kid!", she retorted. "Sort of. That's not the -"

"Did you sleep with guys in the tournament?" a perplexed Jack interrupted.

"NO! Why would I do that?"

"Because you just asked me if I'm having an affair with Becca because we're in a tournament together."

"Forget about the tournament! That's not the point!" Elizabeth screamed. She was starting to feel a bit frazzled by this conversation.

"What's not the point? Actually, what is the point?" Jack asked calmly.

"Me playing sports is not the point! The point is you and Becca."

"Me and Becca what?"

"You and Becca!"

"Me and Becca what?" Jack asked again and then tried to finish Elizabeth's thoughts. "Me and Becca are roommates? Me and Becca like vegetable soup? Me and Becca what?"

"YOU AND BECCA!"

"There is no _me and Becca_. Why would you even ask that?" Jack shook his head in bewilderment.

"She's . . .she's gorgeous," Elizabeth said haltingly. "And you share a room with her. And spend a lot of time with her. She doesn't wear a lot of clothes. All that can lead to a relationship."

"Are YOU having an affair with her?" Jack asked in confusion.

"Why would I be having an affair with her?!"

"Because she's attractive and you share a room with her and she doesn't wear a lot of clothes and you spend a lot of time with her," Jack responded. "The same reasons you said I might be having an affair with her. Except for racquetball."

"No, I'm not having an affair with her. Don't be absurd!" Elizabeth retorted.

"Well don't be absurd and think that I'm having an affair with her. Geez, it's bad enough that we have to detour thousands of miles, and now you think I'm having an affair."

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks and stared at Jack. Her train of thought suddenly derailed.

A look of uncertainty crossed her face.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"I'm talking about Becca handling the navigation so we can dock up with the other transporter and take aboard the stowaway."

Elizabeth slowly lowered herself onto a berth. _What?_ She quickly replayed her conversation with Becca. _Oh, now that probably makes sense. Her comment about picking up a man in space._

"So you not having an affair with Becca?" Elizabeth asked as she scrunched up her face and looked at him.

"Should I be having an affair with Becca?" Jack asked in bewilderment. "Because I kind of thought that you and I were happily married."

* * *

As they lay on a bottom berth, Jack explained that a transporter on its way to Coal Valley had discovered a stowaway. The man, who had been denied passage to the planet due to not passing his security clearance, had been caught asleep in a crew-member's berth.

Jack was now charged with bringing the man back to Earth. Which meant that their transporter currently headed toward Earth would have to slow down its speed to line up – in an optimum area of space -with the transporter headed towards Coal Valley. The decrease in speed plus a slight course direction to avoid a black hole would delay their arrival back on Earth by three to four weeks. Becca was handling the navigation aspect of choosing the best location to dock the two ships together.

"Why did Becca say that I would get my share of you?"

"Share of me? Are you sure you heard right?"

"Mmmm. Maybe not," Elizabeth replied slowly.

"Probably not," Jack said with a grin.

"She said something about me not getting shortchanged and you were going to talk to Abigail to make sure I'm okay", Elizabeth insisted.

Jack pulled back and stared at Elizabeth. "You really have the weirdest imagination of anyone I know. Not that that's a bad thing. Just a little alarming at times."

"Sorry," she said with a shrug. "

"Why does this remind me of when you got poisoned and couldn't say anything except name the seven dwarfs?"

"Would you be serious?" she said with a playful slap to his chest. "I'm just confused."

"Apparently. Because I think most people, when stuck on a transporter for extra weeks and thinking about limited supplies, would think of their share of water and food. Not a man. But I'm glad to know I'm that important to you."

"We're going to run out of food and water?", she asked in alarm.

"Nah, we'll be fine. We should have enough to last for the extra weeks. Ever since our trip over when we almost got damaged, they've been putting larger contingency amounts onboard. But the commissary will want to recalculate portions just to make sure. I talked to Abigail and she'll make sure that you get what you need for the pregnancy."

"And we're going to get back to Earth before I'm due, right? "

"Yep. With a few months to spare. "

"Good. Because I do not want to have this baby in space."

"I promise. We'll be home in time."

Elizabeth snuggled closer to Jack, enjoying the feeling of his arms around her.

"So you're definitely not having an affair with Becca?" she asked.

"No, I am definitely not having an affair with Perky Breast Becca."

"Good," she said as she tilted her neck and looked at her husband's handsome face.

"Now, Candy's another story," he teased.

"Shut up and kiss me Jack."

 **UP next: Chapter 37 Docking**

 **Dear Readers: Reviews are not posting on the website for some unknown reason, but I still appreciate getting them when the system is up and running again. In fact, I love getting them! Thanks!**


	37. Chapter 37 - Docking

**CHAPTER 37 – DOCKING**

It was the day of the docking and the crew was more occupied than usual. The fact that both transporters were made by the same company, Thatcher Enterprises, made things easier. The outside systems on the two ships were identical, allowing for docking without the need for adapters. But matching up two ships, each the size of a four-story building, while traveling in space, wasn't exactly like putting together two Legos.

Becca's major concern seemed to be whether the chief navigator on the other ship, which was named Pegasus, was as good at his job as she was at hers.

"I'm sure it will go fine," Elizabeth said in an effort to be reassuring to her roommate when she noticed that the woman, sitting upright in her berth, seemed a little anxious as she quickly brushed her hair and then twisted it up into a bun at the back of her head.

"It will go fine on my part. I just have to move us to the exact coordinates which I've predetermined, line us up precisely to the exact centimeter with the other ship, and hope that we're not in the middle of an asteroid storm."

"Um, yep. That's what I meant," Elizabeth responded warily.

Becca gave her a look of distain and Elizabeth was pretty sure that the other woman was thinking that Elizabeth's job of teaching a few young students was child's play compared to hers.

'Luckily, the systems are androgynous so there's no gender mating," Becca added as she tied her shoelaces.

"Gender-mating?" Elizabeth questioned. _Did she say gender mating? Does everything with her have to sound like it's about sex?!_

Becca shook her head at Elizabeth's lack of knowledge and jumped off her berth. "Later, guys", she offered as she walked out the door.

"Don't worry about her," Candy said. "If ships have non-androgynous docking systems, they have to be joined with a unique design. Matching up male and female parts, just like with nuts and bolts and electrical systems back home. Becca's just a bit nervous. She's good at her job, but it's a tricky situation. If the ships accidently bump into each other, it can cause a catastrophic problem."

"Catastrophic?"

"You know. Set off a chain reaction. Electrical glitches. Holes in the shield. Fire. Explosion. BOOM!" Candy said as she threw up her hands to illustrate her point. "BOOM!"

A wide-eyed Elizabeth stood there with her mouth agape but Candy didn't seem to notice.

"If we don't blow up, I'm going to go on over," Candy said pleasantly. "Some of my friends are working on that ship. It will be great to see them."

* * *

"I'll be busy with taking the guy into custody and talking to their crew members, so you need to go on your own," Jack noted as the couple sat at the breakfast table.

"No problem," Elizabeth replied. She was perfectly capable of visiting the Pegasus without Jack going with her. She sometimes wondered if he even remembered that she had gotten on the transporter to Coal Valley all by herself. And that was for a two-year assignment, not just a brief visit.

"Just make sure you get there around fourteen hundred hours. That's two o'clock."

"I know what time it is, smarty pants." Elizabeth smiled at Jack.

"That gives you plenty of time," he noted as he continued to eat. "We'll probably dock for about two hours. Long enough to transfer the guy, and give them some cargo they need. Turns out the guy damaged some stuff when he was hiding in the hold."

Elizabeth wiped her napkin across her lips after taking a sip of her juice. She had decided to skip breakfast and lunch in case the midwife wanted to do lab work.

"The midwife sent a message that she's looking forward to seeing me. It will be nice to have a female looking at me. Especially, someone with good bedside manner."

"How do you know she has a good bedside manner?"

"I could tell by her message," Elizabeth replied.

By a stroke of luck, while discussing the docking of the ships, Jack had learned that one of the scientists onboard the other transporter was traveling with his wife, a trained mid-wife who was taking a sabbatical to join her husband in Coal Valley. The woman had been anticipating not having a patient for the next two years and was thrilled to discover that just a few months into her voyage, she'd be examining a pregnant woman. And not just any pregnant woman, but the only woman known to have become pregnant in deep space after living on a colony for more than a year.

"You think she'll know better than Doc?"

"Definitely. She dealt with pregnant women all the time!" Elizabeth said happily. "She said she'd give me an examination, and answer any concerns I may have."

Jack raised his eyebrows and looked over the coffee cup from which he was about to take a sip. "Do you have concerns?"

"Not really."

"Because I thought things were going well."

"They are going really well. But it doesn't hurt to get some reassurance from someone who has dealt with hundreds of pregnant women."

"Just make sure you're back on our transporter by the time the ship's separate," he advised her, and then gave her a smile that still managed to make her heart flip after more than a year of marriage.

* * *

Hours later, the two transporters seamlessly docked with each other. If she had listened carefully, Elizabeth would have heard the engine's short bursts as they helped maneuver the transporter into its precise location. She would have heard the announcement over the ship's intercom.

But Elizabeth didn't hear any of it as she took an afternoon nap. She slept through the two o'clock docking. She slept through Jack going aboard the other ship and taking the man into custody. She slept through the crew members who moved back in forth between the ships as they greeted old friends.

She finally stirred when she heard loud voices coming from the corridor outside her room. Lifting her head from her pillow, she sleepily glanced at her watch.

"Three o'clock?! No, no! I'm late!" she exclaimed as she jerked up into a sitting position. Her planned fifteen-minute nap had somehow extended to more than two hours.

"Calm down. Just calm down. I still have plenty of time," Elizabeth said aloud as she stopped struggling into her shoes and took a deep breath.

Shoes. Lead Apron. List of Questions. An eager Elizabeth was ready for her appointment with the midwife. Now she just had to get there.

* * *

The "air box" - the nickname for the small room which normally served as a transition between the transporter and space – was now serving as a transition between the two transporters. It was a hub of activity as crew members passed back and forth through the small connecting doors.

"What is taking so long?" Elizabeth asked the person in front of her. She had hurried to the transfer point but now found herself still standing idly inside the same transporter she had been on for months.

"There's a line to scan through, and they're moving a pallet of supplies," the man replied. "And I think there's a line to scan on the other side too."

Elizabeth shifted her feet back and forth and anxiously looked around at the crowd.

"I don't have time for this", she mumbled. She was wasting valuable minutes she could be spending with the midwife. Especially as the man with the scanning device and laptop was busy hugging a long-lost friend instead of actually using the device.

Glancing around at the crowded room, Elizabeth made her decision. She moved by the others, including the scanning-device man who had now found yet another friend to hug, and passed through into Pegasus's airbox.

Sure enough, there was another group of people at the scanning desk. Ignoring the line, Elizabeth continued walking and soon found herself in a main corridor.

* * *

It only took a minute for her to realize that this ship's interior wasn't designed exactly the same as her transporter, but luckily, she found a friendly passenger who was happy to escort her to the infirmary in exchange for answering questions about life on Planet Assaymark.

Elizabeth liked the midwife right away. The middle-aged woman greeted Elizabeth as if greeting an old friend and immediately put her at ease.

Ushering the doctor out of the infirmary, the midwife proceeded to tell Elizabeth everything an expecting mother wanted to hear. Elizabeth's skin looked fantastic. Her hair looked fantastic. Her vital statistics were perfect. They had talked space travel and baby showers and that it was okay that Elizabeth had never experienced morning sickness. The midwife said that Elizabeth's diet seemed incredibly healthy but it wouldn't hurt the baby to have a piece of junk food now and then – if she could find one aboard the transporter.

The midwife, who insisted that Elizabeth call her by her first name, Molly, listened to the baby's heartbeat, measured Elizabeth's still small stomach and said that it was perfect, and gave Elizabeth the reassurance that she had desperately wanted since finding out that she was expecting. Before Elizabeth knew it, thirty minutes had gone by.

"Thank you so much, Molly," Elizabeth said gratefully as she hugged the woman goodbye.

THE SHIP WILL BE SEPARATING IN TWENTY MINUTES, the announcement came over the intercom as the women disconnected from each other.

ALL CREW MEMBERS PLEASE REPORT TO YOUR DUTY STATIONS. ALL PASSENGERS NOT ASSIGNED TO THE PEGASUS, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE AIR BOX came the pleasant yet professional voice.

"Just in time," Molly said with a friendly smile. "You don't want to miss the separation and be stuck going back to Coal Valley. It was wonderful to meet you. Send me a message when you get back to Earth. Here, take this", the woman said as she reached into a drawer and took out a candy bar which she handed to Elizabeth. "Just don't let the doc see", she said conspiratorially.

* * *

 _Darn, wrong hallway._ Elizabeth stopped walking and looked around to get her bearings. _Where the heck am I?_

She scowled as she realized she should have paid more attention when she had entered the ship.

 _It can't be that different from home. Home. Great, I'm now calling our transporter home,_ she thought with a wry smile.

 _Left. I'll go left. That makes sense_. She looked at her watch and realized she still had almost fifteen minutes until the ships separated. Nevertheless, she picked up her pace.

Four minutes later, Elizabeth was beginning to get worried. _I must just be on the wrong level. Hmm. Up or down?_

Seeing some young children, she stopped the group of three as they walked in her direction. After thirty seconds of deliberation, they informed her that they thought the airbox was down a level . .. or two.

THE SHIP WILL BE SEPARATING IN TEN MINUTES. ALL CREW MEMBERS SHOULD BE IN THEIR DUTY STATIONS. PREPARE FOR SEPARATION.

 _NO!_ Elizabeth's mind screamed as the announcement penetrated the corridor. _I'm still on this ship!_

 _Don't panic. I can make it._

Running along a corridor to the nearest stairwell door, she pulled it open and hurried down the steps. _It can't be much farther_.

Slightly out of breath, she stopped on the next level and yanked on the door handle. But the door remained shut.

Elizabeth realized in dismay that the level on which she had stopped must be a secure level. Without a Pegasus bracelet, she wouldn't be able to open the door. Knowing it likely wouldn't work, she tried anyway. Holding her bracelet over the two-inch square block on the wall in front of her. _Please_ , she pleaded as she then pulled on the door handle again.

Nothing. The door remained firmly closed.

 _Damn it!_

The smart thing to do would be to message Jack and have him hold the separation until she got to the transfer point. It was so easy that Elizabeth couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of it sooner. She knew Jack would be busy with taking statements, filing a report, and putting the stowaway into the small storage unit that was going to be used as holding cell, but he wouldn't hesitate to tell the control center to stop the separation.

Elizabeth threw back her head in despair and released a sound that was a mixture of a growl and a scream when she realized that she had once again forgotten to charge the messenger part of her bracelet.

Turning away from the door, she quickly moved to the next level. Her palm barely touching the handrail as she practically leapt down the stairs to the next door. Her heart was racing too fast and she knew it was due more to nerves than exertion.

This time the door opened immediately when she pulled on the handle. She burst into the corridor and frantically looked left and right.

"Which way is the airbox?!" she hurriedly asked a young woman in jeans and a blouse who was walking five feet away.

"Down that way, and make a right. Then another right. But we're separating soon. You better hurry!", she called out but Elizabeth had already taken off running.

* * *

 _Damn shoes_. Elizabeth felt her shoes weighing her down and keeping her from sprinting as fast as she would like.

With one hand she reached behind her back and pulled on the tie securing the heavy lead apron to her waist. She threw it the ground and continued running. At least that was something.

She ran blindly around the first corner. Knocking into someone, she didn't stop to apologize as red lights placed along the upper walls began flashing. The intercom emitted four loud beeps and then another ominous announcement.

SEPARATION IN FIVE MINUTES. PREPARE FINAL CHECK. ENSURE STATIONS ARE READY FOR INITIAL UNLOCKING AND BLAST.

 _Noooo! Damn it! Noooo. I can make it! I can make it! I am not getting stuck on this transporter and going back to Coal Valley! I'm going to Earth!_

"Hold the door! Hold the door!" she yelled as she ran down the corridor, pushing past people.

"I need to get on that flight," she gasped when she reached the security desk. "That's my transporter."

Her chest was moving in and out as she tried to fill her lungs after her run.

"I ran", she explained to the man standing behind the desk and then she took another breath. "I made it," she continued between more gulps of air.

"Let me through", she ordered feebly as she grabbed her side and bend over slightly to ease the cramp which had formed.

The man in uniform looked a bit put off by her last-minute arrival and glanced at the count-down clock on the wall. Elizabeth's eyes followed his gaze.

"I made it!"

"Just barely," he replied in a bored voice. He pushed a button and spoke into an intercom. "Hold for one more transfer visitor."

"Didn't you hear the announcement?" he asked with condescension.

"Sorry. I got lost," she replied meekly.

"Personal or duty?" he inquired as to the reason for Elizabeth's visit as he began the out-process to transfer her.

"Personal."

"Crew or passenger?"

"Passenger", Elizabeth replied as she began to relax and fully appreciate that all that exercise she had been doing had come in handy. Okay, so maybe she was breathing a bit heavy but it's hard running when you're full of anxiety and wearing fashion dictated by a doctor with no bedside manner, she reasoned.

The man behind the desk frowned in contempt as a slightly disheveled Elizabeth breathed heavily in front of him. He wondered about the effects of Planet Assaymark and how she had managed to become so deconditioned.

"Did you give anything to anyone while aboard the Pegasus?" he asked routinely. He had asked the same questions of every person who had gone through his checkpoint in the last two hours.

"No."

"Did anyone give you anything to bring back to Earth?"

"No. Wait. Yes. A candy-bar," she replied as she reached into her back pocket and handed the man the limp chocolate bar which had been warmed by her body temperature. "But it was more to eat when I got back to my ship rather than save for Earth. You can have it," she offered in friendly manner trying to appease the man whom she had insulted by arriving so close to departure time.

"You could have kept it. I meant chemicals, computer programs, science equipment," he explained but he pocketed it anyway.

"I guess I'm the last passenger to go through," she noted as she tried to be friendly.

"Yep. Weight?"

"Weight?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Your weight?"

"About one hundred and thirty-eight. Give or take a few pounds."

"Which one? Give or take?"

"Umm. Add a few maybe," Elizabeth offered with a thoughtful expression.

"I don't remember seeing you come by me earlier," the man noted but Elizabeth didn't respond as she wiped beads of sweat off her forehead.

"Scan your bracelet, please."

Elizabeth followed his instruction, scanned her bracelet, and moved past the man without waiting for a beep. She wrung her hands together as she waited for the door to open. _Hurry. Hurry,_ she thought impatiently as she listened the mechanisms clicking open.

"Hold up, ma'am. Scan it again please. It didn't take."

Elizbeth impatiently took two steps back and ran her wrist over the metal square with the dark plastic center.

Nothing happened. No green light. No beep.

"Try one more time," he encouraged but he had stopped looking at his clipboard and eyed her a little more intently.

An anxious Elizabeth swiped her wrist again. Going slower than before as if the machine was too inept to read her device if she went quickly.

Still nothing happened. No green light. No beep.

"Again," the man ordered. This time, he took her wrist with his hands and ran it over the scanner himself as if she was a two-year-old incapable of handling a basic scanning device.

"Why are you trying to get off the Pegasus?" the man asked suspiciously when nothing happened.

He let go of her wrist and returned to behind his desk where he pushed a round green button. This time, Elizabeth got the ominous feeling that this was not a good sign. Especially when the door made a clicking sound as if the locking mechanisms were going back into place.

"It's not my ship. I'm with the other ship, Heart of Hope," she answered.

"If you had come from the Heart, you would have passed through here and we would have a record of it."

"I was in a hurry. I was visiting the midwife," she quickly explained, hoping the man wouldn't be mad at her for skipping in-processing.

"Midwife?"

"Molly the midwife."

The man, now showing irritation, narrowed his eyes on her. Elizabeth got the distinct impression that not only did he take it as a personal insult that she would have neglected him on arrival, but that he did not believe her.

"Trying to get back to Earth? Before your assignment has even barely begun. Space Travel isn't a joke. And I don't have time for this. Now get back to your quarters," he said dismissively.

A wide-eyed Elizabeth stood there in shock as the man spoke into the microphone on his desk. "False stop. Proceed with separation. No more transfers. You can proceed with separation."

"No! No! You don't understand. I've already been to Coal Valley. I'm going back to Earth!" Elizabeth protested when she heard him give the go-ahead for the ships to undock from each other.

The man gave her a steely glare. "Every visitor is scanned in before they entered the ship. We have a record of every arrival. And you Miss, did not scan in today. Which means you did not transfer from the Heart of Hope."

"I did! I just skipped the scanning in –"

"Skipped the scanning in?" he interrupted.

"I was in a hurry," she guiltily explained.

"No one skips the scanning in," he curtly informed her.

"I did! Honestly, I did. I'm so sorry," she replied earnestly. "It will never happen again. I promise."

The man paused. Clearly, he found it difficult to believe Elizabeth. He sighed, gave her a look of disgust, but nevertheless, spoke into his microphone.

"Jeff? Yeah, this is Kyle from Pegasus. Did you have all your transfers accounted for? You should have picked up one extra from us. . . . . Twenty-three scanned out and twenty-four scanned in. Okay, thanks. No, we're good on our side too. Twenty four out and twenty three in. . . Yeah. Just the one stowaway you guys took for us. Yeah, I just got a trouble-maker over here. No problem. Have a good voyage."

The man looked arrogantly at Elizabeth. "Get away from my desk."

"You don't understand", Elizabeth protested as tears of anxiety and frustration formed in her eyes. She didn't care that two other crew members had now stopped their duties to watch the scene unfold. "I skipped the scanning out from there too! I skipped the scanning _out_ and the scanning _in_!"

"You skipped both scannings?" he asked with eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"To see the midwife."

"We _don't_ have a midwife," Kyle said deliberately. "Midwives are for pregnant women. There aren't pregnant women in space. AND NO ONE SKIPS SCANNING IN. Now get away from my desk, or I'll call security."

Elizabeth's eyes darted to the intercom box on the wall as it seemed to come alive with another announcement.

THE SHIP WILL BE SEPARATING IN TWO MINUTES. PREPARE FINAL CHECK.

"That's my ship!" Elizabeth screamed on the verge of hysteria. "I have to get on that ship! My husband's on that ship! I'm going to Earth!"

The man clearly had enough of the hysterical woman in front of him. "You are going to Coal Valley. You'll be there in two months and then, if you want to request a transfer back to Earth, you are welcome to try. This is your final warning. Get back to your quarters."

"NOOOOO!" Elizabeth reached past Kyle and tried to push the button she had earlier seen him push. Her hand smacked on the red one, which she assumed meant stop the separation. His right hand clenched around her wrist, squeezing it tightly and then he brutally pushed her away while smacking another button with left hand.

Her months of learning Krav Maga with Jack came back to her and she attacked.

Swiftly flipping the surprised crew member onto the hard floor.

Climbing over his prone body and ignoring his groan, Elizabeth scrambled around the side of the desk and reached for the red button, this time slamming it down. She then moved her finger to the microphone lever.

"Stop the –" Elizabeth cried out but the microphone was wrestled away from her before she could say more.

* * *

A minute later, Elizabeth, strands of hair falling in her face, stood with her back up against the wall. Holding her hands out in front of her to ward off the three crew members.

She suddenly felt dizzy.

It was as if someone was dimming the lights. But not for everyone. Just for her. Like she was falling asleep and entering a dream in the middle of standing there. She tried to shake the feeling but she couldn't. She knew she was falling.

She heard voices. Curse words. Snippets of sentences as someone put hands on her and helped her slumping body into a chair.

". . . . she's going to pass out. . .

. . .get the smelling salts . . .

. . . . . why was she trying to get off ship? "

Even though she was about to faint, Elizabeth knew why she was trying to get off the ship.

She was on the wrong ship going in the wrong direction.

She was going back to Coal Valley.

She was again like a dandelion wisp. Only this time she wasn't merely floating in space.

She was going to be hurtling thousands of miles away from Jack. That was enough to make any girl faint.

 **P.S. Dear Readers, the website is still having some flaws so if you have messaged me and I haven't responded, please don't think I am ignoring you. Some messages and reviews appear to be going through but not all.**


	38. Chapter 38 - Promises

**CHAPTER 38 - PROMISES**

"Who is she?"

Elizabeth, sitting in a chair and holding a water bottle, turned her head when she heard the woman's voice. Two women, both dressed in Pegasus crew uniforms, were staring at her as the entered the air-box. She recognized the insignia of the First Officer on the shoulder epaulettes of the woman who had spoken.

There were now six crew members crowded around Elizabeth, who had been revived with smelling salts held under her nostrils by a crewmember who had hastily grabbed them from a first aid kit.

"I have no idea, ma'am. She's given me two different last names but neither is listed as a passenger in our system. I'm not sure what her real name is."

"Did you do a retinal scan?"

"I can't. Her pupils are overly wet. She keeps crying," the man said in bewilderment.

"What did she tell you?" the First Officer asked.

"She claims she's married to that security officer that was here earlier, and that she's also the daughter of the maker of this transporter, and that she's a school teacher."

"Our mysterious trouble maker has a triple identity," another crew member said sarcastically.

"She says she's pregnant, skipped both scans, got past me without noticing, and was here to visit a midwife. She gave me a candy bar which I think was her attempt at bribing me to let her get on the other transporter," the man with the name tag engraved 'Kyle' added.

"I wasn't bribing you!" Elizabeth exclaimed defensively. "You asked if anyone had given me anything!"

Everyone was talking about her like she wasn't even there. Granted she had almost fainted, which she suspected was due to a lack of eating breakfast and lunch added to her running, but she was now fine after sitting down and drinking some water.

The crew members all stared at her as if she was an oddity. Elizabeth, who after attacking a crew member and then almost fainting, had spent the last few minutes hiccupping and crying through an interrogation. She clearly didn't fit into their neat orderly world.

" _What_ did she tell you?" a puzzled First Officer, who was clearly needing clarification, asked as she turned her attention from Elizabeth to Kyle.

"That she was here for a pregnancy check-up with her midwife, that her father and mother made this transporter, that her husband is the law enforcer, and that she's a school teacher."

"Do you think it's space madness?"

"Seems possible. Check out her crazy shoes," one of the men answered as he pointed to Elizabeth's weighted shoes with their suction-cup bottoms.

"I found this apron in the corridor," a female crew member said as she held up the protective garment. "A passenger said he saw her throw it off." The crew all looked intently at it and squinted their eyes in confusion.

"It's mine!" Elizabeth snarled and reached for it. She snatched it from the woman's hand and placed it across her own midsection. "To keep radiation from my womb."

"Your womb?"

"Yes, my womb!" she said angrily. Tears stinging her eyes. "Womb. Singular. Not a double womb."

"Can a woman have two wombs?" one of the men whispered to the woman at his side.

"Beats me," the woman said with a shrug and then moved her finger in a circular motion around her head to indicate that Elizabeth might be mentally unstable. "Maybe she's on something."

The First Officer tried to ignore the 'crazy' symbol and addressed Elizabeth. "You got pregnant in space?"

"Yes. I got pregnant in space," Elizabeth said rudely. "Actually, it was on Plant Assaymark," she added wearily.

"How'd that happen?" one of the men asked dubiously.

"I had an x-ray of my wrist and got pregnant," Elizabeth snapped. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Aahh. The old x-ray-of-the-wrist pregnancy," came the snotty response. "I always thought it was intercourse that got women pregnant."

"It wasn't the x-ray! It was the romantic non-fireman thing!" Elizabeth argued hotly.

"There was a fireman? Or _not_ a fireman? On Planet Assaymark? And he got you pregnant with an x-ray machine?" the First Officer asked delicately, as if dealing with a possible emotionally unstable woman.

"Oh, never-mind," Elizabeth muttered.

While the crew members began talking amongst themselves, Elizabeth barely listened to their words.

". . . Thatcher, but then she said Thornton. She can't even figure out what fake name to use. I don't have either listed as a passenger, but that security officer that was here was named Thornton. Maybe she heard him say the name.. . .

. . . . . . .Get the doctor in here. . . .

. . . . .Does anyone recognize her? . . . .

. . . . Hey, wasn't that one scientist's wife a midwife back on Earth?"

Elizabeth was tired of arguing. It was too late. The ships would have separated while she had hovered just above consciousness, and before the smelling salts.

Tears started to spill out of her eyes again. Thirty minutes ago, she had been happily thinking about her pregnancy. Everything had seemed so positive. So perfect. Now, she wiped her eyes at how terribly wrong things had gone.

She felt all alone.

All she could think about now was the math. The horrible word problem forming in her brain.

If a woman who is approximately three months pregnant has to fly two months to Coal Valley and then turns around and flies four more months to Earth, where will her baby be born?

* * *

"Did you stop the separation?" someone in the crowded room asked Kyle. "Why aren't we moving away?"

Elizabeth's head jerked up. She looked at Kyle excitedly.

Kyle, whose hard professionalism had started to soften at Elizabeth's tears, shook his head at the crew's question.

"I started it up again after she pushed the stop button, but then they stopped it from their side," he replied.

"The other side? They stopped it? Why?" a woman wearing Ensign insignia asked.

Kyle moved over to the desk and reviewed the screen with its blinking lights and messages.

"Sixteen oh five it was stopped by me. Sixteen oh six I started it up again. Sixteen oh seven she pushed the button. Sixteen oh eight I started it up again but at sixteen oh eight – the same time- the other side put a hold on it."

"Did they say why?"

"Yeah. They're checking their passenger count," Kyle responded as he read from the screen. "Something must be going on over there too."

"I told you! They must have realized I'm missing!" Elizabeth yelled out triumphantly even though snot was dripping from her nose.

* * *

Within a minute, the doctor had answered the crew's call and arrived in the air-box with the midwife, who had vouched for Elizabeth's identity.

"You shouldn't have been running," the man reprimanded Elizabeth as he held his stethoscope to her chest and listened carefully.

"It's okay," Elizabeth protested. She was happy to see the midwife nodding in agreement with her. "I run on the treadmill every day. I just was wearing too much weight today between the shoes and the apron, and I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. And, well, I was really nervous."

"There's nothing to be nervous about now," a female crew member said in a friendly voice. As if dealing with a younger sister who needed comforting.

"You'll be on your ship in a few minutes. But that doesn't give us a lot of time," the woman added with a twinge of regret evident in her voice.

"A lot of time? For what?" Elizabeth asked in confusion. She couldn't think why more time was needed. Goodness, she just wanted off this ship and back on her own. The personnel on the two transporters had communicated with each other and realized that there was indeed one misplaced passenger; the unlocking mechanisms were being reversed on both ships.

"What do we need time for?" Elizabeth, her face stained with tears, asked again.

The woman gave her a sad look. "You're not a pretty crier," she said sympathetically.

"That bad?" Elizabeth asked as she wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"Look, you need to toughen up," one of the men spoke out trying to be helpful. "No man wants an emotional wreck for a woman. We stopped the undocking but you don't want your husband seeing you like this."

Someone handed Elizabeth a tissue and she blew her nose. "It's okay. He's seen me cry before. Just the other day, I was crying when I thought he was having an affair with one of our roommates," she explained off-handedly.

"Your husband cheats on you?" a woman asked with concern.

"Never! I just thought he had. Because they were spending time together and I misunderstood the situation. It was all my fault."

"You can't blame yourself for what your husband does," the First Officer remarked tersely.

"It really was my fault," Elizabeth explained. "We have a very emotional relationship," she added as she thought about the intensity of their love. "I've been crying since the first time he broke up with me, and then again when I thought he was going to leave me and go back to Earth. And that was before we were even married!"

The curly-haired woman began running a facial wipe, which had appeared out of the first aid kit, along Elizabeth's face, while another woman gently combed her hair. "Maybe you shouldn't be with a man who you think is always going to be leaving you?" the first woman said cautiously.

Elizabeth sniffled. "Oh, it's not like that," she said dismissively. "I meant 'leaving me' because of work. You know that unavoidable kind of leaving. Not the threatening kind. Unless you count the time that Daddy sent me a suitor, but I didn't take Jack seriously that time when he threated to leave me and go back to Earth on the next transporter."

"He threatened to leave you on the planet by yourself?!" the woman said in a stunned voice. She gave a knowing glance to her crewmate, who stopped combing Elizabeth's hair and quietly moved away.

Elizabeth blew her nose into another tissue which someone had handed her and took a sip of water. She was feeling much better now that she knew the transporters were preparing to reopen the transition point.

"It wasn't that serious," she said pleasantly. "You know what it's like. When you have rich overprotective parents and your father sends a man to protect you when you go somewhere primitive. But then your father doesn't want you to fall in love with the middle-class law enforcement officer he sent even if that law-enforcement officer is wonderful. So, your father sends his hand-picked man, who's also your childhood friend, to come after you and woo you. And the man you really love – who's the middle-class law enforcement officer – gets jealous because even though he loves you desperately, he's a little insecure about his social standing. So, he threatens to leave you in the heat of the moment if you don't send the taller man home."

The female crewmember simply stared in bewilderment at Elizabeth for a moment before finding her voice. "My parents are soy bean farmers. They don't care who I marry as long as I'm happy."

"Oh. Well, yes, there's that too," Elizabeth said with a friendly shrug.

"You and your husband don't . . .fight a lot, do you?" the woman with the short curly hair asked hesitantly.

"Not at all! We love each other. I can't even remember the last time we fought. Unless you count when we found out I was pregnant . . .and then when he refused to have sex with me," she said pensively as an after-thought.

All the crew members were now sympathetically staring at Elizabeth and wondering what kind of horrible man she had married.

"Miss, are you sure you want to go back to that transporter? You can come to Coal Valley with us. We'll find you a space," one of them volunteered.

"Of course, I want to home! Jack's on that transporter. But, you've all been very nice. I'm sorry for all the trouble. "

"There she goes blaming herself for everything," one of the women muttered to the First Officer. "No wonder her husband gets away with treating her so badly."

"Refusing to have sex with her? Fighting with her because she got pregnant? Blaming her because he almost has an affair?" a man whispered. "And he seemed like a decent guy when he was aboard earlier today. It just goes to show you can't always tell about a person."

Elizabeth didn't hear the comments as she stood up and tucked her shirt into her pants. She lovingly looked at her belly and ran her hand over it gently.

"Congratulations", one of the men offered. Trying not to feel too badly for Elizabeth who was obviously in some sort of emotionally abusive relationship.

"Thanks!" Elizabeth answered with a big smile. "And you're right, my husband won't want to see me a complete basket-case. I was just a little emotionally overwrought. Thank you all for your help."

"DOCKING COMPLETE," the sensor over the door announced. "DOORS OPENING."

* * *

Elizabeth realized she had no reason to rush into Jack's arms when she saw him. After-all, she had just seen him a few hours earlier. It would be far better to pretend that nothing dramatic had happened in the last half hour.

Three seconds later, Elizabeth, now trying to be confident and forget the anxiety she had recently felt, was walking towards Jack. He was talking to a man in uniform and casually leaning against the processing desk, as if he was merely waiting for his wife to come out of a beauty salon rather than a transporter than almost took her away for six months. Jack's eyes showed a mixture of relief and what decidedly looked like comical frustration when he saw her.

"Is that her?" the uniformed man added with a nod towards Elizabeth.

"Yes, thanks for holding things," an unruffled Jack responded.

"You may want to remind her of the necessity for precision when it comes to time."

"Will do," Jack said as he smiled at Elizabeth, who gave him a friendly wave.

"I'm so sorry, Jack. They wouldn't let me through," Elizabeth hurriedly explained when she reached him. "They were just a little uptight about their processes."

He chuckled, indicating he was used to her misfortunes and they began walking side by side out of the room.

"Are you okay?" he asked casually.

"I'm fine."

"Everything okay with the baby? Mid-wife visit went okay?"

Elizabeth nodded eagerly. "Everything's fine with the baby. Molly said I'm doing really well. She was wonderful."

"And you almost missed the flight _why_?" Jack asked curiously as they continued to walk along a corridor.

"I just got a bit lost on the ship. And well, it was just a bit of a mess," she replied with a sigh.

"So, you're okay?"

"Of course, I am. I handled everything just fine. I explained that I needed to get on this ship and they held it for re-docking. It was fine," she said in a false upbeat voice as she remembered that men like a strong woman.

"No trouble?"

"Not really," she replied. "Really, Jack, you have to have more faith in me. I'm a grown woman. I can certainly handle visiting another transporter."

Jack paused for a minute and tried to bite his smile. "So, the transmission that our Captain got from their crew asking if I was a jealous man who emotional abuses you with threats to leave you, withhold sex, and have an affair – that was some sort of _misunderstanding_?"

"Yes!" a stunned Elizabeth exclaimed. _Man, did the Pegasus crew misunderstand everything!_

"If everything was fine, why are your eyes are red and puffy?" Jack asked politely as he kept pace with her and nodded hello to someone walking past them.

"I . . .um . . .you know, it was just a drier atmosphere on that ship. You probably noticed it too when you were over there."

"Actually, I didn't."

"Really? How odd," Elizabeth replied as she hurriedly wondered how to change the conversation. "But it was the atmosphere that caused my puffy eyes," she insisted.

"If you say so," he responded as he put his arm around her waist. "But I have my own theory."

"Theory? Your own theory?"

"You know, me being in law enforcement, I tend to notice details and come up with theories" he said lightly as they turned a corner in the corridor. "Do you want to hear it?"

"Um. Okay,"

"I am guessing that you had trouble getting back onto our transporter and got so frustrated that you started to cry. Not one of your sad cries but one of your angry frustrated cries. Where instead of cursing at someone who frustrates you, you just burst into tears."

"It was awful," Elizabeth wailed as she gave up her pretense. "It wasn't fine at all! I was worried I wouldn't see you again until after the baby was born! No one would believe me at first! They treated me like I was some deranged woman who was trying to get out of going to Coal Valley because I had changed my mind. It was horrible!"

Jack stopped walked and turned to face her. "Put your arms around my neck", he ordered.

A puzzled Elizabeth did as he ordered and then gasped when he bent forward slightly and swooshed her up into his arms. One arm under her knees and the other under her upper back.

"Come on my dandelion", he said tenderly. "You've had enough excitement for the day. I think you are in need of some coddling."

"And cuddling", she offered as she buried her face into his chest and let him carry her in her favorite position.

"And cuddling", he agreed with a smile.

* * *

The humming of the heat moving through the air vents was the only sound in the living quarters as the couple lay entwined on one of the six berths where they had been for almost an hour. Elizabeth's head was resting on Jack's chest as she listened to his heartbeat.

"We should get up," Jack noted. "The roommates will be back soon and we need to get to dinner. You've got to be starving."

"Just a few more minutes," Elizabeth implored, but a second later, she lifted her head and stared at Jack.

"Weren't you worried at all? That I was stuck over there?"

"Not really."

"Not really?! I could have been gone for six months!", she exclaimed.

Jack chuckled. "You would not have been gone for six months. First of all, I had no idea you weren't back on our ship until after I finished my work and went looking for you. The guys in the airbox said you hadn't scanned through to the other ship, so yes, then I got a little worried that you had never made it to the midwife's appointment. I tried messaging you –"

"Sorry," Elizabeth said with frown when she remembered she hadn't charged her bracelet.

"And then I had an announcement put on the intercom asking you to come to the security office. Bobby from the quartermaster's said he saw you on Pegasus. That's when I figured you must have somehow skipped the scanning, and I quickly told the Captain to hold the departure."

"Think how close we were to being separated! Like Penelope and Odysseus," Elizabeth said dramatically as she thought of the ancient Greek epic poem.

"Penelope and Odysseus were apart for twenty years because of the Trojan War", Jack said scornfully. "Not because the wife lost track of the time and got lost on a four-story ship."

"Still", Elizabeth objected to Jack's flippant response. "We would have been apart for six months."

"No, we wouldn't have been," Jack maintained. "If we went weeks out of the way to pick up a stowaway, we certainly could have gone back and redocked as soon as I realized you had been left aboard the Pegasus. It would have been an inconvenience and Becca may have thrown a fit about the navigation, but for goodness sakes, I would have made them redock."

"You would have?"

"Of course, I would have!"

A sheepish Elizabeth remained quiet as she thought about Jack's logic.

 _I guess I never thought about it that way. Darn, he's right. I got all hysterical for no reason._

 _How embarrassing!_

 _Why in the world does he stay married to me?!_

"Although . . .," Jack said thoughtfully, "Any time I'm away from you, it does seem like twenty years. . . . . Let's make sure we're never apart for too long, okay?"

"I promise," Elizabeth whispered as she tilted her face and kissed him.

"I promise too," he whispered back.

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 39**


	39. Chapter 39 - Interesting

**CHAPTER 39 - THE INTERESTING THING ABOUT OLD FRIENDS**

"What are you watching?" Elizabeth asked as she walked into the sliding door of their living quarters after letting out her students for the day. Jack was sitting on his berth as an image of a slender blond woman in jeans and a fitted tee-shirt floated in front of him.

"A hologram from an old friend of mine. She heard I was coming back to Earth and wants us to get together next time we're in Canada. I'll replay it for you," Jack responded as he pushed a button and the twelve-inch high woman stopped moving and became silent.

A second later the gossamer woman reappeared and her confident yet still feminine voice flooded the room.

 _Jack, I heard you're coming back home in a few months. It's been ages since we've talked. I'm back in North America now. I've been back for about six months . . .. ._

 _. . . . Would love to see you . . . . Heard you got married . . . . We've got so much to catch up on. . . ._

. .

Elizabeth found the woman to be friendly but her mention of various people that Elizabeth had never met quickly bored Elizabeth and after a minute, she began putting away her few pieces of laundry left on her bed from the quartermasters as the woman continued to speak to Jack.

"She seems really nice," Elizabeth offered pleasantly.

"Yeah, she is. She used to act tough sometimes, but she was a softie. Always adopting a stray cat or dog or trying to find a home for one. She had a talent with animals," Jack replied as the hologram ended and he closed the computer.

"That says a lot about a person", Elizabeth noted. She looked at one of her tee-shirts and was happy to see that a juice stain had come out in the laundry. "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Mahatma Gandhi said that."

"I never thought of it that way. But if you say so," Jack replied off-handedly.

"Were you good friends?"

"Yeah. I guess. I didn't know her long. Less than two years, but we were good friends."

"Is she married?"

"I doubt it. She thought it was an old-fashioned custom. She was kind of a free spirit."

"Well maybe she's settled down by now. You should send her a hologram back. To keep in touch. Good friends are hard to come by."

"I'll think about it."

"How do you know her?"

"We met through some mutual friends."

"Was she dating one of them?" Elizabeth asked with no more than mild curiosity as she examined the pair of socks in her hand and realized that they were Jack's.

"No. We dated for a bit."

" _You_ dated her?"

Elizabeth stopped putting away her clothes and suddenly became more interested in the female whose image had just been floating in her living quarters.

"I went out with her for a few months. It was a year or so before I met you."

"Why'd you break up?" Elizabeth asked as she sat on the edge of the berth, opened up Jack's computer, and hit the play button again. She now watched more intently as the woman in jeans reappeared before her.

For some reason, the woman now seemed prettier than she had when Elizabeth had thought of her as just a platonic friend from Jack's past.

"We didn't really. We –"

"You didn't break up with her? She thinks you're still dating?!" Elizabeth interrupted as the hologram image was still speaking. . . _._

 _. . . Space must be exciting. I miss you . . . .,_ the voice echoed through the room.

Jack rolled his eyes at Elizabeth's question.

"No, she doesn't think we're still dating. Not unless she's a moron. We were never in a serious kind of 'I love you' relationship. There was nothing to break up. We dated and then she took a job assignment in Johannesburg and we stopped seeing each other," Jack said as he changed into a pair of running shorts. "I'm going to go to the gym for a bit. You coming?"

Elizabeth ignored his question and asked one of her own. "If she hadn't have moved to Johannesburg would you have kept dating?"

"I don't know. Maybe until we each found someone else. Like I said, it wasn't anything serious. She was never 'the one'."

Elizabeth had to smile at Jack's words. She knew that she herself was Jack's 'the one'. The only one.

"Then why'd you go out with her?" Elizabeth asked out of curiosity.

"She was good company. No expectations of a serious relationship. She was dedicated to her job but she was fun. She liked to horseback ride, play cards, and target shoot. She had a motorcycle. She could drink me under the table," Jack added as he thought more about it.

"She sounds like a brute," Elizabeth remarked as any jealousy evaporated at Jack's description of his friend as nothing more than someone he had palled-around with.

She picked up an apple and rubbed it against her shirt to shine the skin and wondered what it would be like to meet Jack's family and friends.

Jack chuckled. "She isn't a brute. You saw her. She's very attractive. Tall. Well-toned. At least she used to be. We would work out sometimes together. She was pretty athletic. She competed in a couple of triathlons with one of our friends."

"It might be nice to meet her. I'd like to know your old friends. We don't know anyone from each other's lives before we met. What does she do? For a job?"

"She works with endangered wildlife. Preserving and protecting their natural habitat and them from poachers. She once sent me a picture of herself playing with wild lion cubs she had rescued."

"Wow. That sounds really interesting. Maybe when we get back to Earth, we can invite her over some time for dinner."

"Probably not a good idea," Jack said as he finished tying his shoelaces.

"Why not?"

"Just wouldn't be."

"Because I can't cook? It's not like I've had a lot of opportunity since I've known you. I'm sure I can pick it up quick enough and make something resembling a decent meal for your friend. It would be nice. I'd like to meet your friends."

"It has nothing to do with your cooking," Jack noted absently as he looked at a message on his communicator bracelet which had just emitted a beep. "Seth's meeting me in a few minutes at the racquetball court."

"Then why not?"

"I just think it might be awkward. A woman I used to have sex with and my wife having dinner together. Nah."

The apple fell from Elizabeth's hand before it reached her mouth. "Used to have sex with?!"

Jack stood up from the berth. "Yeah. Didn't I mention that?"

"No, you didn't mention that! You said she was someone you dated with no expectations of a serious relationship! You didn't mention you had sex with her!"

"Well I did and you can stop yelling it for the whole transporter to hear."

"How often?"

"How often what?"

"How often did you have sex with her? Once? Twice?"

"A day?" Jack asked as he crinkled her eyes at her in confusion as to why she was asking.

Elizabeth's eyes got wide in shock. "A day?" she gasped in horror. "Once or twice a day?" she repeated in a stunned voice. "Once or twice _a day_?!"

"Don't have a conniption. We dated – if you want to call it that – for a few months and we had sex a few times. Mostly we were just friends and enjoyed hanging out together on weekends to go hiking or biking or just to go to sports bars. And once we went sky diving."

"Sky diving," Elizabeth repeated in a daze. She was still in shock over the revelation that a woman who was well-toned, nice, very attractive and who had had sex with her husband, wanted to get together some time.

Elizabeth watched as Jack reached into his locker and took out his googles for racquetball.

"We are never meeting her. You understand that, right? We are never going to see her on Earth. Never," Elizabeth said firmly. "I don't care if we are being mauled by a pack of lions, she is not allowed to come near us."

"Pride", Jack said casually.

"Damn right, it's my pride. I will not have a woman who slept with you see you again."

"Pride, Elizabeth," Jack said with a smile as he again corrected her. "It's not a _pack_ of lions that would be mauling us, it would be a _pride_ of lions."

"Whatever." Elizabeth threw her hands up in disgust. "No meeting at a coffee shop. No visits at a zoo. No dinner at our place. We are never meeting her. Never. Got it?"

"That's what I said," he reminded her with a chuckle. "I said it probably wasn't a good idea to invite her for dinner."

* * *

While Jack was bouncing balls off of walls, Elizabeth was bouncing around ideas in her head. Wondering why Jack was attracted to her. Why he had married her when he clearly had had more interesting girlfriends before her.

She sat on her berth and frowned as she remembered some of the other women Jack had told her had dated before he had met her. There had been a pilot. A rancher. The ER doctor. A police officer. Actually, two of them. _Thank goodness he didn't date both of them at the same time_!

 _Motorcycles. Sports bars. Target Shooting. Sky diving!_

 _He had such exciting dates with other women. What kind of dates did Jack and I go on?_

 _One. One date. A movie which kept getting interrupted by power surges. Boring._

 _How come I never went on exciting dates before I met Jack?_

 _I must have. I just can't remember them. Think, Elizabeth,_ she ordered herself.

 _There was Charles. We went to the country club and to see plays. And skiing once with the country club gang. There was Martin – we just played video games. . . . Peter was nice but boring. . . . Shaun was just a disgusting rich jerk with no ambition but to spend his daddy's money who liked to get drunk at fraternity parties._

 _So, Jack is the exciting one in this relationship and I'm the uptight boring prim and proper school teacher,_ she thought as she continued to frown.

 _I didn't have much competition in Hope Valley. Not compared to when we get back to Earth. Keeping some of those women from Jack in an isolated frontier colony was hard enough. How am I going to handle Earth?!_

 _Women between the ages of eighteen and eighty-eight will want him!_

 _All those countries!_

 _All those women!_

 _Half the world's population!_

 _I've got to keep him interested in me._

 _What the heck am I going to do?!_

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 40 AN IRISH LASS**

 **Readers: To my reader who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, I am so sorry that you have to undergo that fight. I hope this chapter makes you smile.**


	40. Chapter 40 Irish Lass

**CHAPTER 40 - AN IRISH LASS**

"We will be home in two months and I have never met any of Jack's friends or family," Elizabeth explained to Abigail as she watched her best friend chop a pile tomatoes which had been grown on the transporter using hydroponics. "I'm a little nervous to meet them."

The two women were in the transporter's large kitchen with its stainless-steel counter-tops and shelves filled with boxes and cans of food and drinks.

"You've had holograms."

"It's not the same," Elizabeth responded. "Those are one-sided conversations."

"Are you worried about meeting his mom? I know she was surprised by your marriage but I thought she was okay with it."

"She's so different than me. In the last hologram, she was staining a wooden table while she had a stew cooking in the background. She had made both- the table and the stew!"

"Why do you sound so worried? I don't think she expects you to make both the meals and the furniture for your home," Abigail said with a laugh.

"It's not that. It's just-" Elizabeth paused. "I don't know. I just wonder about Jack's life without me."

As Abigail continued to slice tomatoes for the ship's dinner menu, Elizabeth filled her in on yesterday's hologram from Jack's former girlfriend and Elizabeth's own worries about life on Earth.

"So, you're not upset that Jack had a relationship with her?" Abigail asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No. I expect him to have had relationships before me. That's normal. We had lives before we met each other. I don't need to meet his past girlfriends but I certainly can't begrudge him for having them."

"I agree," Abigail said with a nod. "And you're not worried he's ever going to cheat on you?"

Elizabeth shook her head again. "Never. He loves me. I love him. That's forever. I didn't even really believe it when Becca was telling me what I thought was her admission of an affair. And she was just telling me about the detour to pick up the stowaway guy. I didn't even really believe it when I thought Jack was confirming the affair. In fact, I probably wouldn't believe Jack was cheating on me even if I found him in bed with another woman."

Abigail paused with her knife and looked at Elizabeth skeptically. "Even if you caught him in bed with another woman, you wouldn't believe he was cheating on you?"

"Nope", Elizabeth gave a simple shrug. "I'd figure she had drugged him or he was working on some kind of undercover investigation. He loves me. He'll never cheat on me."

"That what are you so worried about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Elizabeth said with a sigh.

"No. It's not," Abigail answered with a smile.

"I'm boring. What if Jack just hasn't realized that yet." Elizabeth said glumly. "What if he discovers that he's stuck married to a boring wife. He fell in love with a dud."

Abigail chuckled. "You're not a dud."

Elizabeth swallowed a mouthful of kale and carrot juice and tried not to spit out the disgusting-tasting concoction. "Jack plays racquetball and baseball. His friends are in law enforcement or forest rangers or pilots or in the military. One of his old girlfriends works with lions!" she exclaimed.

"Why don't you play racquetball or basketball?"

"I'm afraid of getting hit by a ball", Elizabeth grumbled. "Not just racquetball and baseball. Football. Soccer. Volleyball. Pretty much I'm a wimp. I was raised differently", she said trying to defend herself. "I ice-skated and skied and played golf a bit. I took dance and piano."

"That doesn't make you boring. Just different than Jack."

"And I've had boring relationships," an unpersuaded Elizabeth complained. "None of my past relationships was as exciting as Jack's former relationships. He's the most exciting interesting man I've ever been with, and I'm the most boring woman he's ever been with."

"You're not boring. You're . . . .," Abigail paused as she realized that teaching a classroom full of young boys and girls wasn't anywhere near as exciting as working with lions.

"Boring," Elizabeth said with a sigh. "I teach math and science. I talk about Shakespeare and civics lessons. And Jack's so adventurous."

"Maybe opposites attract!" Abigail said encouragingly although she doubted that old adage.

"I hope so because I'm only going to get more boring on Earth."

"How do you see that?" Abigail crinkled her eyebrows in confusion.

"I'll be even more pregnant. I won't be able to do anything outdoorsy or adventurous," Elizabeth whined as she picked up a piece of tomato and then threw it back onto the pile. "So I better be interesting before we arrive back home."

* * *

"Jack, are we going to do the talent show this year?" Elizabeth asked when she walked into the security office at noon and found Jack staring intently at his computer screen. She had decided that there was no reason why she couldn't change her personality and be captivating. The hologram from Jack's friend had given her the nudge she needed. And the talent show was the perfect place to start.

"Why? Do we need another pair of slippers? Wasn't that what we won last time?" he asked absently as he continued to look at the screen and hit the enter button every so often.

"It will be fun! We had a good time last time. And we almost won."

"We came in _fourth_ place", Jack reminded her. "But sure, if you want to."

"I think we should do something interesting for the talent show," Elizabeth announced. "Like ax throwing. You know, where you'll throw them at me and miss me by less than an inch."

Jack turned in his chair to stare at her. "Where in the world did you get that idea?" he asked in bewilderment.

"I just thought it would be interesting. Don't you?"

"Definitely. Especially when you're taken to the infirmary with an ax stuck in your head."

He continued to look at her in bafflement. "Elizabeth, I have no idea how to throw axes and ' _miss you by less than an inch'_ as you so casually put it."

"You could try. I'm sure you'd be good at it."

"Why would I be good at it?" He shook his head in disbelief at her broad assumption.

"I just think that you would. Let's just try it."

"Do you _want_ me to be a widower?"

* * *

 _Okay, so maybe axe throwing wasn't such a good idea,_ Elizabeth thought as the couple ate lunch with their usual friends.

Jack had refused to discuss the idea of throwing a four-inch heavy and sharp blade at his wife's head any further as they had made their way to the cafeteria but he had agreed to being in the talent show if she came up with a decent idea.

 _I'll come up with something for the talent show. In the meantime, I'll concentrate on another talent. For private time!_

* * *

The room looked perfect. As perfect as Elizabeth could make a sterile metal and plastic simplistic room look for a romantic dinner date. It had only been five hours since she had last seen Jack at lunchtime, but she was already getting that tingling feeling that a girl gets when she's dating a cute boy.

Elizabeth had dimmed the lights, used the last of her perfume which she had been rationing of the past year, bribed her roommates to stay away for a few hours, and had romantic music playing as she waited for Jack's arrival.

The white bedsheet which she had hung from the upper berths to make a canopy was a little low so Jack would have to duck, but that made it all the more charming, Elizabeth reasoned.

A picnic dinner under a canopy.

 _What could be more romantic and interesting,_ Elizabeth thought giddily as she went into the wash room to brush her teeth and leave herself with fresh minty kissable breath.

* * *

When Jack, with his eyes looking down at the screen of his laptop he was carrying, walked in through the sliding door, he smacked head-first into the sheet, knocking it down and covering his eyes.

"What the heck?" he said in confusion as he pulled the white material away from his face and tossed it onto a bottom bunk.

"Why's it so dark in here? Elizabeth, are you in here?" he called out as he stepped further into the small room.

"God damn it!"

Elizabeth spit out her toothpaste into the sink when she heard Jack cursing. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, she hurried into the other room.

Jack was limping and looking around in the dim light. "Why is there food on the floor? I just stepped in a bowl of rice. And I knocked over a juice box," he added as he grabbed Elizabeth's silk robe from the berth and began to mop up the liquid.

"We're having a picnic!" Elizabeth announced as she tried to remain enthusiastic despite watching Jack use her sexy robe, which she had planned to be wearing when he walked in, as a rag.

"Why? And can you turn on some lights?"

"We're doing it by candle light," she explained happily as she righted the rice bowl and began gathering up the spilt clumps of rice from the floor.

"I can't hear you. What is with that music?" he asked loudly over the sounds of jazz floating through the room. "Can you turn it down?!"

Elizabeth quickly looked around and wondered what to do with the smooshed rice she was holding in both hands. Seeing nowhere to put it, she finally just decided to shove it down her blouse.

"We can't have candles on the transporter," Jack said when Elizabeth had turned off the music and she again happily announced that they would be eating by candlelight. "You know that. No open flames allowed. Are you trying to blow us up?" he asked in bewilderment.

"No. Look," she explained as she moved to another computer and pushed a button.

The hologram of a flame appeared in the room. "Isn't it romantic?" she asked with a big grin.

Jack looked at the flickering orange light and then looked back at Elizabeth. "I'm confused," he admitted. "Did I miss something? An anniversary?"

"No, I just thought we'd go on a date," she told him.

She clasped her hands in front of her and smiled broadly. "You've been so busy taking those correspondence courses to get promoted that I thought a date night would be nice. Especially before we get back to Earth and everything gets so complicated."

"Why will everything get so complicated on Earth?" he asked with crinkled brows.

"Um. You know, lots of people for us to see. And you'll be busy working and I'll be busy being pregnant. And we'll be finding a house."

"So that makes life complicated?" he asked in confusion.

"I just thought a date would be nice! To remind us of romance."

"Why? We're already married. We already know we love each other. And you're pregnant already so I think we've already figured out what to do after a date."

* * *

Abigail gave a surprised look as Elizabeth and Jack made their way through the cafeteria line causing Elizabeth to slightly shake her head indicating that the romantic dinner had been a bust.

It turned out that Jack wasn't interested in eating rice which had been stepped on, or the broccoli and peas which had rolled under a lower berth no matter how 'romantic' a setting Elizabeth had made.

Jack and Elizabeth moved to their regular table, where Seth was busily juggling hard boiled eggs to the amusement of his daughter.

"Hey guys, you going to be in the talent show this year?", Peggy, a cute red-haired engineer asked.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you" Jack said to Elizabeth. "I signed us up. We got Ireland."

Elizabeth crinkled her brows in confusion. "Ireland? What are you talking about?"

"This flight's show has a theme. Countries from around the World", Peggy answered. "Your talent has to have something to do with that country. I picked France."

"I got Korea," someone else spoke up.

"And you picked Ireland for us?" Elizabeth asked Jack. "Why'd you pick Ireland?"

Jack shrugged. "There were only two left. It was that or Botswana. I figured Ireland would be easier for us. You'll be my beautiful Irish lass," he added with a smile.

 _Great_ , Elizabeth grumbled to herself. _What are we supposed to do? An Irish jig? Look for four leaf clovers? Eat Lucky Charms?_

* * *

"Jack", Elizabeth whispered the next morning. All four occupants of the living quarters were home. Becca and Candy, ear buds in their ears, were sitting on their berths looking at their laptops while Jack was putting on his shoes.

Jack looked curiously at Elizabeth and mouthed "What?"

Instead of answering, Elizabeth handed him a folded piece of paper as if she was a covert operative transferring national secrets. She turned away and slipped into her own shoes.

"See you all later," she called out as she walked out the door, leaving a befuddled Jack to wonder why his wife was acting so strangely.

* * *

"Elizabeth, can you explain why you gave me a note telling me to wait ten minutes and then meet you here?" Jack asked when he found Elizabeth hiding behind a pallet of rock samples in the transporter's cargo room.

Instead of answering him, Elizabeth pulled Jack into a kiss. Long and deep.

Thirty seconds later, she pulled back slightly and began unbuttoning her blouse as she gave him her best attempt at a seductive smile.

"What are you doing? You know I love kissing you but what is going on?" a confused Jack asked.

"I thought we'd fool around," she declared as she dropped her blouse to the floor where it landed in a crumpled mess.

"Here?" Jack swiveled his head around and looked at the huge room filled with pallets of cargo and ore samples. "If we want to fool around, we've got a mattress in my office."

"This is more exciting!" Elizabeth reached out and began unbuttoning his shirt but Jack pushed her fingers away.

"Stop acting crazy. We are not fooling around here. Anyone could walk in. And it's not the least bit comfortable." He moved his fingers and rebuttoned his shirt. "Put your shirt back on."

Undeterred, Elizabeth tried a new tactic. She looked him in the eye and began running her fingers through his hair.

"Stop it," he ordered sternly and shook his head. "You know what that does to me."

Instead of stopping, Elizabeth moved her body even closer and ran a finger along his neck, knowing how it made him tingle.

"What has gotten into you?" he asked hoarsely as he tried to control himself.

"I just want to try something interesting", Elizabeth replied just before she touched her lips to his.

Losing his resolve to be sensible, Jack's hands moved through Elizabeth's hair as he held her mouth against his. She was warm and delicious.

As he continued to kiss her and pushed his body against hers, Elizabeth knew that this was mostly definitely worth the ten minutes she had spent waiting for him.

* * *

"I can't do this," Jack said four minutes later as he gently pushed Elizabeth away and fumbled to rebutton his shirt for the second time.

"Why not?"

"Because it's . . .it's stupid. We have a perfectly good mattress in my office. It's morning. My stomach's grumbling. I keep thinking someone's going to walk in on us, and a rock is sticking into my back. I love you but this just isn't working for me."

"Fine," Elizabeth grumbled even though she was secretly grateful he had decided to stop. She hated to admit it, but as she had kissed Jack, pretty much all those same thoughts he had were going through her mind. _This idea was a bust._

"Come on, let's go get breakfast", Jack said good-naturedly as he smiled. He reached out and tenderly pushed a lock of hair from her face as she stood up after retrieving her blouse from the floor.

* * *

"I think we should do some kind of caber toss for our talent. We can find long pipes instead of logs or wooden beams, and show some kind of skill with them," Elizabeth announced hours later as she walked into the security office and found Jack sitting at his desk.

Jack looked away from his computer and gave Elizabeth a blank stare before finally speaking. "A caber toss?"

"Isn't it a great idea? It's totally different from what anyone else will do for the talent show. Almost like baton twirling but with really heavy batons. That's where I got the idea from," she added with a laugh. "What do you think?"

"No," Jack said simply and then went back to typing. "I'm working. Anything else you wanted to know?"

Elizabeth frowned and huffed. "Why not?"

Jack leaned back in his chair and looked at Elizabeth. "I don't want to be carrying and tossing a one-hundred and seventy-five pound pipe. I don't want _you_ to be carrying and tossing a one-hundred and seventy-five pound pipe. That's what cabers weigh for competitions."

"But –" Elizabeth tried to interrupt.

"It's not a talent that I have or that I want to have anytime soon," Jack said dryly. "And it's not Irish. It's Scottish."

"Darn", Elizabeth grumbled before turning and walking out of the office.

* * *

Two days later, Elizabeth had come up with two new ideas. One for the talent show and one to make herself seem more interesting to Jack.

The first one was easy enough; she knew Jack would like it.

 _Oh Danny boy the pipes the pipes are calling_ _  
_ _From glen to glen and down the mountain side_ _  
_ _The summer's gone and all the flowers dying_ _  
_ _'Tis you 'tis you must go and I must bide_

"That's pretty," Jack noted as he looked up from the computer and took his ear pieces out of his ears to listen to Elizabeth's singing. She was sitting on the berth across from him looking at the written lyrics.

"It's for the talent show. Do you think I should sing it? It's Irish."

"Yeah, I think you should. You have a beautiful voice. Thorntons are from Ireland. I've always loved that song."

"Can you learn the music quick enough? I know you've been really busy with your on-line course," she said as she thought about the two North American Defense Force courses he was trying to finish before they arrived back to Earth.

"Yeah, I'll do it. I'm sorry these courses are taking so much of my time. I've got to write a paper for this one on community-policing in a technologically advanced age."

"No apology necessary. I am looking forward to your promotion," she said with a smile. "Actually, that reminds me. I have some detective work for you. I'm missing one of my earrings. Have you seen it?"

Jack chuckled. "No, but I'll look when I get a chance. It's not my most interesting case but I think I can handle it."

"Ooh. That reminds me", Elizabeth said excitedly. "I came up an idea for something fun for us to do when you have some free time. Maybe tomorrow if I can make the plans."

Jack raised his eyebrows at her suspiciously. "Does it involve getting amorous in public or me throwing something at you?"

"Neither one. I want us to go on a spacewalk! We can be tethered together!"

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 41**


	41. Chapter 41 - The Holograms

**CHAPTER 41 – THE HOLOGRAMS**

A space-walk was not going to happen. That had been made clear to Elizabeth. Very clear.

When Elizabeth had energetically informed Jack that she wanted to do a space-walk, he had looked around the room as if he was in some sort of practical joke and people would jump out from behind the berth curtains and laugh at his response. When that didn't happen, he had stared at her as if her body had been taken over by aliens. Finally, he asked her if she was having a mental break down.

Jack had been adamant. His pregnant wife was not going on a space-walk just because she thought it would be exciting. Not only was there no reason for a space-walk, but they were dangerous, scary, and stressful. His own space-walk on the flight to Coal Valley had been tense and nerve-wracking but necessary. It was a situation he didn't want to repeat.

As a chastised Elizabeth remembered how worried she had been when Jack had been tethered to the transporter to replace a broken part, she was grateful that he was now so adamantly opposed to the idea of a space-walk.

* * *

It wasn't until the next day after class that Elizabeth discovered that while she had been worried about Jack finding her boring, Jack had been worried about her hormones.

"He's really worried about you," Abigail told Elizabeth. The two were alone in the Thornton's living quarters after Elizabeth's work-out in the gym.

'Why? I'm fine", Elizabeth replied as she towel-dried her hair which was wet from a quick shower. "I'm sure he's not that worried. He's just got a lot on his mind with his classes."

"He's considering ordering a psych eval", Abigail informed her with a grimace.

Elizabeth dropped the towel and stared wide-eyed at her friend. "A psych eval?!"

Abigail shrugged guiltily. "He has the power. As a security officer he can order any passenger to have a psych evaluation."

"I'M NOT ANY PASSENGER. I'M HIS WIFE!"

"You're the one that he's worried about. He thinks you may be having a death wish or be trying to frame him for your attempted murder."

"WHAT?!"

Abigail cringed at Elizabeth's reaction. "I don't know everything, but he says you've been acting odd. He thinks it's your hormones. He did some research on pregnancies and read something about hormones affecting personalities and that they can give women strange and sometimes dangerous ideas."

Elizabeth flopped onto a bottom berth. "But why would he think I have a death wish or want to frame him for murder?" she asked in confusion.

"You told the crew on the Pegasus that he was emotionally abusive to you, you asked him to throw an ax at your head, you wanted him to toss one-hundred and seventy-five pound pipes near you, you chose "Danny Boy" to sing for the talent show and it's about a man going away for a long long time, and you wanted him to take you on a space-walk even though on your last flight someone came untethered and floated away to his death."

"Oh, for Pete's sake. I never told them he was emotionally abusive! They misunderstood!"

"You have to admit that it's been a bit much."

"You think I went overboard?"

"Just a bit."

"I'm just trying to be interesting!"

"I think he just wants you to be you", Abigail said with a knowing look.

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing. He was going on and on about how you've been acting overly happy and coming up with strange ideas and how worried he was, and then before I could explain how you thought you were boring, he got called away."

Elizabeth shook her head in bewilderment. "Who knew trying to be interesting could be so difficult."

"You should probably talk to him. In fact, you should have probably talked to him a few days ago."

"It's all because of that stupid hologram he got," Elizabeth said irritably.

"I thought you weren't jealous of that girl."

"I'm not", Elizabeth said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "She actually seemed really nice. I watched the hologram again and she's not interested in Jack that way. She said she's really happy for him and she heard wonderful things about me from what he's told his friends back home."

"So, if you're not jealous, why is it all her fault?"

"I'm not jealous of her being with Jack. I was envious as to how exciting her life is," Elizabeth said with a sigh. "I just didn't want Jack to think he was missing out on something."

"Did he ever say he felt that way?" Abigail questioned skeptically.

"No. He never did," Elizabeth admitted. "I guess I just let my mind get carried away. It's being stuck on this transporter for months and worrying about meeting his family back home. It just got me over-thinking things."

* * *

"Jack, can we talk?" Elizabeth asked an hour later. She had been all over the transporter looking for him only to find that in the meantime, he had gone back to their living quarters.

"I – I think that's a good idea," Jack replied somewhat awkwardly. He had been waiting in the room for the last fifteen minutes wondering how to approach his wife. "I-. I'm wondering how . . um . . . you're feeling with your pregnancy and . . .and . . . pregnancy."

Jack motioned for her to sit down as he paced the floor in front of her.

Elizabeth obediently sat down and looked at Jack's worried expression. She felt guilty that he was so concerned but had to admit that she found the situation a bit comical.

"I'm fine. I do not have a death wish and I am not framing you for my murder," she announced calmly as she tried not to smile.

"You heard about that?" he asked hesitantly.

"I did."

"Well then what the bloody hell is going on?"

* * *

Five minutes later, Jack would have laughed at Elizabeth's worry about her boring personality if she hadn't been so serious.

"I love you! Why would I find you boring?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Be honest. Don't you think I'm boring?"

"Only when you talk about poetry," Jack replied.

"Are you serious?" Elizabeth had asked for honesty but she was still taken aback by his quick response.

Jack shrugged. "You told me to be honest."

Jack sat down on the berth next to Elizabeth and ran his hand along her back. "Are you sure you're not having some kind of hormonal problem?" he asked worriedly.

"There is nothing wrong with my hormones", Elizabeth said with a smile. "So, you don't like poetry?"

"Not really," he replied with a grin. "But I like everything else you do. And I don't think you're boring."

"Really? Even though I don't ride a motorcycle or play baseball or sky dive?"

"You gave up your cushy life to live on a far-away frontier colony, you captured a criminal on our last flight, you have mean high kick in martial arts, you sing like an angel. I think you're pretty interesting", he answered as if he was stating an obvious fact.

"You just saying that because you're married to me and I'm pregnant and we're stuck on a transporter together," she grumbled half-heartedly although she actually was starting to believe him.

She was also thinking that if Jack suddenly pulled her into a long romantic kiss it might help her mood. Considerably.

Beeeeep.

The sound emanating from Jack's messenger bracelet caused him to remove his hand from her back.

"I've got to go. Two guys from air purification have been fighting over Becca. Apparently, it just got physical," he announced after reading the message.

Jack was almost out the door when he stopped and turned back into the room. "Watch these holograms while I'm gone", he said as he put his laptop in front of her and pulled up some files.

"I don't want to watch any more holograms from your friends or family," she grumbled. "They make me feel inferior."

"These aren't from my friends or my family. They're from _me_ ," he replied. He pushed a button, and then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Just watch."

He was almost out the door when he stopped again and turned back. She looked up expectantly at him and wondered what he had forgotten, but instead of looking for something, he approached her again.

Without a word, he gently held her face in his hands and gave her another kiss. This time on the lips. "I'll be back. Watch them," he ordered.

* * *

 _Jack was right. There must be something wrong with my hormones,_ Elizabeth thought as she felt her eyes watering up. They had been getting more and more moist as she watched the recordings Jack had made almost two years earlier and sent back to Earth. Actually, the hologram messages had started the first week aboard the transporter on the way to Coal Valley and continued for more than a year.

 _. .. Mom, I have met this woman that is so annoyingly interesting. Her name's Elizabeth._

 _. . . We're just roommates. That's all. That's why I mention her a lot. I don't know what you're getting at. I don't think I mention her more than I mention my other roommates._

 _. . . I told you that I changed my mind, Mom. I've decided I may want to stay at Coal Valley. It's my assignment and I think I should stick to it . That's all. Why do you think that Elizabeth Thatcher has something to do with my decision? I never said that. Just because I've told you about her a few times in some of my messages doesn't mean she has anything to do with my decision._

 _. . . . yes, I have lots of friends aboard the ship. Of course I don't just spend all my time with her. . . ._

 _. . . Elizabeth is a really good teacher. Even though she only has a few students on board, she . . . ._

 _Elizabeth said the funniest thing . . . . ._

 _We've become really good friends. It's so nice to have someone on the flight that I can talk to and really enjoy each other's company. . . ._

 _. . .She is the most fascinating woman I have ever met. She's this rich society girl but she's nothing like you'd expect. She's independent and sweet._

 _. . . I could talk to her for hours. I want to talk to her for hours._

 _And Elizabeth said . . ._

 _. . . Elizabeth and I . . . ._

 _You're going to think I'm crazy, Tom, but I can't stop thinking about her._

… _. and then Elizabeth chased the woman through the transporter_

 _. . . I can't imagine my life without her. . . ._

 _. . . her father doesn't think I'm right for her but I know in my heart we're meant to be together . . ._

 _Elizabeth was so cute when she started to . . . . . and she lit up the whole room . . . everyone is impressed with her. . ._

 _Don't be stupid, Tom, I'm not going to regret getting married. I don't want to sow any wild oats. Elizabeth's the most incredible woman I've ever met. She's exciting and smart and nice and perfect._

 _. . . I can't wait for all you guys to meet her. She's great. Yes, I know I say that in every hologram but it's true.. ._

* * *

"Here", Jack said as he handed Elizabeth a tissue.

She hadn't even heard him walk in as she had been intently watching hologram after hologram message even as her eyes had become blurry with sentimental tears. Her finger had hovered over the re-play button as she had played back her favorites.

Elizabeth took the tissue from Jack's outstretched hand and blew her nose into it.

"You think I'm wonderful. And interesting," she said with a hiccup as he sat down next to her on the berth.

"And perfect for me."

"Really?"

"Really. You are the only person who makes me feel grounded and keeps me on my toes at the same time," he replied. "I feel totally secure in our relationship and yet every day I wonder what interesting thing you're going to come up with to add some excitement. And yes, you worry me sometime. But I am never bored."

"Except when I read poetry," she reminded him. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Except when you read poetry," he repeated with a chuckle.

"Kiss me?" she said.

"Nope," Jack responded. "Because it's seventeen-hundred hours. Which means that Becca and Candy are going to be coming back to the room soon. And if I kiss you, I won't want to stop. You have a habit of doing that to me."

Elizabeth smiled as he gently ran his hand along her neck. "What do you suggest?"

"I suggest that we go up to the security office and I kiss you there," he replied which made her smile and tingle in all the right places.

 **Up next: Chapter 42**


	42. Chapter 42 -Stormy Weather

**CHAPTER 42 – STORMY WEATHER**

"Pass me my shoes," Jack said as he sat on the edge of his berth and motioned toward his locker. Elizabeth was standing in front of the metal storage compartment which was only two feet by four feet in size and meant to hold a passenger's personal belongings for the four-month long flight.

Elizabeth yawned. "Can't we just go back to bed?" she asked tiredly as she pulled his sneakers from his locker and handed them to Jack who had already gotten dressed.

"Didn't you sleep well?"

"Just not long enough. The midwife from the Pegasus says its normal to be tired."

"Why don't you go back to bed? Send a message to your students and delay lessons for a couple hours. You're the teacher. You get to make the rules."

Elizabeth, who was still wearing the tee-shirt and shorts in which she had slept, threw her blouse back into her own locker, turned around, and began climbing up the ladder to her berth. 'You're right"

Jack chuckled. "That didn't take a lot of convincing."

Elizabeth almost immediately fell asleep within seconds of laying down. She didn't bother to open her eyes when she felt Jack's lips on her cheek.

"I love you, dandelion. Have a good sleep."

"mmmm. love you," she mumbled back.

* * *

An hour and forty-five minutes later, Elizabeth finished brushing her teeth and reached for her hairbrush. The extra sleep had been wonderful. The only downside was that she had missed breakfast to sleep and was going to miss the lunch meal to teach class. She frowned as she heard her stomach grumble. Her usual school day was just four hours every morning, but she had slept through almost half of that. And she hated to shorten her lesson just to make it to the cafeteria for the lunch hour.

She wasn't worried about her students; they would be fine because they had eaten breakfast and their parents would likely save them some lunch.

 _That's it! I'll just have Abigail put aside some food for me._

Pulling her hair back and wrapping a soft elastic around it, she gave herself one final look in the mirror before heading to her locker and taking out her "sucky" shoes and her lead apron. She had gotten used to wearing the shoes and no longer griped every time she put them on. The heavy protective apron was still bothersome but the doctor had agreed that she only needed to wear it when she was in a room or hallway which ran along the outer edges of the transporter. Unfortunately, the only available room for teaching was on the top floor outer edge of the transporter.

 _It's for the baby_ , she reminded herself as she tied the apron around her waist. _Three more weeks on this transporter and we are home!_

Elizabeth glanced at the calendar on the wall and smiled optimistically. The flight had taken longer than the scheduled four months due to the detour to pick up the stowaway, and then there had been a three-day slowdown while a broken part needed fixing, but she was hopeful that there would be no more delays. She'd be just about five months pregnant when they landed.

She picked up an apple from never-ending supply that Jack made sure was always there, and then almost immediately set it back down in the bowl _._

 _I'm sick of apples. Why are they the only fruit that last for months after they're picked? What I'd give for a nice juicy peach,_ she thought longingly.

 _Maybe Jack and I will start a peach farm on Earth._

 _A sun-filled orchard of peaches._

 _Next to a field of dandelions,_ she thought with a smile.

Jack had already told her that when they bought their home, he wasn't going to mow their lawn because he wanted it filled with yellow dandelions _._

She thought it was a foolish idea but she loved it. She loved him even more for saying it.

* * *

Elizabeth looked at her watch as her stomach growled loud enough for the students to hear. _Thirty more minutes. Jack's will have finished eating lunch and gone back to the office._

"Lulu, can you please explain to the class what derivatives you used to solve the problem?" Elizabeth encouraged the sweet fourteen-year old girl sitting in one of the room's desks as she turned her attention back to Differential Equations.

"Yes, ma'am, I –"

The girl's explanation was cut off by a loud bang which echoed through the room startling all of them. The students looked around curiously and then turned to Elizabeth for reassurance.

"I'm sure it's nothing", Elizabeth said calmly. "Probably just oxygen going through a pipe and causing a rattle. Go ahead, Lulu."

"Newton's Second Law of Motion says that an object of mass is moving with acceleration and being acted on with –."

Lulu paused as the ship made an atypical movement. Almost a jolt. It was a move that was out of the ordinary on a transporter that prided itself on smooth maneuvers.

"It's okay," Elizabeth told her worried students. "Let's just finish this problem and then you can all go back to your living quarters. You've been great sports about letting me sleep in this morning," she added with a smile as she tried not to show her concern.

The teenager began speaking again. Her voice a little nervous as she tried for the third time to explain her math problem. "Newton's Second Law of Motion says that an object of mass is moving with acceleration and being acted on with force –."

The girl stumbled as the transporter jerked sharply to the right.

"Everyone, grab onto something. Now!" Elizabeth ordered.

The words were barely out of her mouth, when the ship titled severely in one direction and then abruptly tilted even farther in the other direction. Computers slid off the student's desks and slammed to the floor, cracking their screens and sending bits of polymer flying through the air.

Elizabeth held tightly to a pipe that lined the wall next to her and said a silent prayer that her shoes had suction which were keeping her from sliding on the smooth floor.

"What's happening?! What's happening?!" the students screamed.

Elizabeth didn't answer but gripped the pipe even harder as the transporter began to shudder and alarms flooded through the intercoms.

"Watch out!" she screamed as a tile fell from the ceiling and electrical wires came tumbling down. The children scrambled from their seats and struggled to hide under their desks for security but the desks were skidding around the room and slamming into one another.

Pounding battered the ship as it continued to jerk through space.

It was like they were on a toy metal ship being pelted with rocks while at the same time tumbling in a laundry dryer.

The children were crying out but she could barely hear them above the wailing alarms.

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide as she saw a crack form in the wall in front of her. She watched in horror as it grew longer and longer until it was more than three-feet in length. She frantically wondered if the room would split in two.

The electronic board in the front of the room fell off the wall and crashed to the floor catching her attention and she swiveled her head towards the sound. She watched as the heavy board slid into one of the students who was laying on his belly. Elizabeth felt horrified as the boy lay unresponsively while a puddle of red quickly formed on the floor by his head.

Still holding the pipe in her outstretched arms above her head, she lowered herself to the floor and debated if she should try to crawl to the injured teenager.

When the other children saw the blood, they screamed even louder. Wails of fear. But the ship didn't care. The battering continued. The jerking movements. The loud knocks and thuds. It seemed to never stop.

The explosion of one of the lights which sent a spray of pieces raining on the children and hitting Elizabeth's lead apron caused her to react.

She pulled a two-inch long sharp plastic dagger out of her protective garment where it had become embedded and began crawling toward her students.

"Stay down", she yelled but her voice didn't carry above the beeping alarm and the wailing siren.

She made her way to Tessa, who was closest to her, and held the sobbing girl against her body while a warning light above the door feverously flashed in red.

Urging the girl forward, they moved together to the next closest child. When they reached Lulu, the floor finally stopped tilting and the bangs had become fewer. Whatever had happened appeared to be coming to an end. At least for now.

The children scampered across the floor where they huddled around the injured student. There was a lot of blood but Elizabeth remembered that head wounds always bleed a lot. _It's going to be okay_ , she told herself. _Head wounds always bleed a lot. Even minor injuries._

Elizabeth stood up and ran towards the doorway. She slammed her hand against the intercom button on the wall and called for a medic. The response had too much static for her to know if the person at the other end understood her.

Taking a deep breath, she tried again. "This is Ms. Thornton. I need a medic in room 1F. outer ring. I have an unconscious thirteen-year old child with a bleeding head injury. I need a medic now."

* * *

While Elizabeth waited for the medics and held her hysterical students, she managed to maneuver her hand around the head of one of them and type out a simple message to Jack so he wouldn't worry.

Of the six children on this flight, five were now in tears. The sixth one was still unconscious.

* * *

"Lulu, take your sister and stay in your living quarters", Elizabeth said reassuringly as the group which had been walking down a corridor stopped in front of a sliding door.

She had waited until the medics had taken her injured student to the infirmary, and then Elizabeth had begun to personally escort each remaining child to their living quarters.

"Your parents will be here any second."

"I'm worried," the older of the sisters said quietly so her sibling wouldn't hear as the ten-year old crawled into a berth. She needn't have bothered, the beeping of a few alarms which still penetrated the air causing the girl to have to speak even louder to Elizabeth. "What if it happens again?"

 **ALL PERSONAL - CHECK YOUR AREAS FOR DAMAGE. SUBMIT SITUATION REPORTS TO THE FIRST OFFICER.**

Elizabeth waited until the announcement which was blaring over the intercom had finished. Announcements had been coming over the system for the last fifteen minutes as the transporter tried to get itself back in order.

"Look, here come your parents now." Elizabeth nodded down the hallway as a man and woman came hurrying towards them. "You'll be fine. Have them put some ice on your arm where you banged it."

After next dropping off Tessa and a young boy to their grateful parents, Elizabeth sent another quick message to Jack letting him know she was going to the infirmary to check on her injured student.

* * *

"Elizabeth! Are you okay?!" Abigail came rushing towards her fifteen minutes later as Elizabeth walked out of the infirmary.

"I'm fine. I have to hand it to Doc and those stupid shoes he's had me wearing, and the lead apron. They came in handy," Elizabeth assured her. "One of my students was knocked out for a few minutes. I was checking on him. Thank goodness, he woke up. Maybe a slight concussion but he'll be fine. The place is a zoo."

"Are you sure that you're okay. And the baby?"

"He or she is just fine," Elizabeth said with a smile as she reached under the protective apron and touched her belly, which was only slightly swollen. "I felt him again today," she announced giddily.

"Him?"

"I'm not sure. Doc is hopeless at the ultrasound machine. He told me yesterday that we needed to wait another few weeks. It's still too soon to see 'parts'. Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked as she looked at her friend, who appeared disheveled and had large wet red blotches across her clothes.

"I was making spaghetti and red sauce for tonight's dinner. The kitchen's a disaster. A couple of my crew had some bumps and maybe a sprain but nothing serious. There was a small fire in the navigation bay, and an explosion in the water purification room but no serious injuries. Some burns but nothing life-threatening."

"Is my roommate Candy okay? She works in water purification."

"Yeah. I saw her running down the corridor to help in one of the units. Did you hear what happened?"

"Space junk."

"That's what I heard but I didn't get any more than that."

"Apparently a large satellite hit a piece of space junk and caused it to explode. The 'junk' was an old abandoned Chinese space-lab the size of a football field. Hundreds of pieces were hurtled into space. We were flying right through it when it happened. That's why we felt like we were under attack. We were being bombarded by chunks of metal speeding through space. How's the rest of the ship?"

"There were some explosions. They're still taking inventory of the damage. Thank goodness the alarms finally stopped. I'm going to check on my roommates," Abigail said as she hugged Elizabeth. "By the way, I left you a lunch in one of the refrigerators before this all happened. Jack insisted I put in a slice of lemon meringue pie for you," she added with smile before hurrying down the corridor.

 **THE FITNESS CENTER HAS EXPEIRENCED MINOR DAMAGE TO THE CURRENT POOL. ALL NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL AVOID THE FITNESS CENTER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.**

Elizabeth watched her friend move out of sight as the intercom blared its latest announcement.

Despite the gravity of the morning, Elizabeth gave a comical shake of her head and smiled. Jack's idea for a slice of pie wasn't just meant to help her sweet tooth. She was pretty sure he was teasing her about her earlier nickname as the transporter's "tart".

* * *

It wasn't until after Elizabeth had dropped off each child with his or her parent, had visited the infirmary, had gone back to her classroom to complete a report of the damage, had picked up her boxed lunch in the cafeteria – which was littered with boxes, trays, dishes, and food, and was finally making her way back to her living quarters that she realized that Jack had never messaged her back.

She knew he was probably busy with reports, checking on passengers and crew, and maintaining order, but she paused in the hallway and sent him another message so he wouldn't worry about her, and so he could let her know when he'd be free to meet up. She took a deep sigh. It had been a hectic last hour.

She leaned against the wall and waited for his quick response.

 **CODE SILVER. MEDICS TO CARGO BAY. MEDICS TO CARGO BAY. STAT. CODE SILVER.**

Elizabeth glanced at the intercom speaker and then back at her bracelet. She casually tapped her foot as she waited for Jack to get back to her.

She knew Jack would be busy with helping everyone, and for that reason, she tried not to get upset with him for failing to immediately respond to her message. Being married to a man in law enforcement meant that she had to take a backseat to emergencies.

Hearing the sound of heavy footsteps, Elizabeth glanced to the right and saw several medics rushing down the corridor in her direction as they made their way to the cargo bay. Sucking in her belly, she pressed her back against the wall so they could hurry past her with their stretcher and medical gear.

She hoped to get a glance of Jack with them; knowing that he would probably be on his way to the cargo bay. That was one of the reasons she loved him. Because he ran bravely towards danger to help victims.

He wouldn't have time to stop and talk. Not with everything that was going on. She knew that. But maybe she could at least give him a quick kiss on the cheek. A return kiss for the one he had given her this morning when she had been too lazy to do anything but mumble a reply.

She told herself that when she saw him, she'd just give him a quick kiss and let him get to work. Maybe she'd make sure he had enough to eat. A bottle of water. _That's it. I'll give him my bottle of water from my boxed lunch. He's probably thirsty. And a kiss._

But Jack didn't rush by with the other crew members.

Elizabeth kept looking down the corridor, but it was now empty.

She glanced at her bracelet thinking that she had missed his message.

But there was no message.

She shook her bracelet to make sure that it hadn't broken during the earlier ruckus. Seeing nothing wrong with it, she realized that it was quite possible that the communication system on the transporter was going through some sort of glitches. She had seen enough wires and cables hanging from the ceiling that it likely that something had gone wrong with it.

Elizabeth started to send another message anyway when she felt the tiny movement of the baby. Pausing, she smiled and put her hand on her belly. _Hello, sweet baby. Daddy and I love you._

And then it hit her. Like a punch to the stomach.

Like someone stealing the oxygen out of the room.

Like the long-curved blade of a scythe swiftly cutting her off at the knees and leaving her to fall to the floor.

Like all the light leaving the world.

She knew.

She knew why Jack hadn't answered her messages.

Why he wasn't in the hallway.

Why she hadn't seen him in the last hour.

Why he hadn't tried to find her.

 _Jack!_ her mind screamed.

And it was all so clear to her.

Jack was the injured person that the medics were trying to save in the cargo bay.

UP Next Chapter 43

 **Dear Readers: I posted this chapter long before the awful WCTH season 5 last two episodes. I would NEVER kill off Jack or Elizabeth! I may bruise them up a bit, but that's all. :)**


	43. Chapter 43 Surgery

**CHAPTER 43 - SURGERY**

Elizabeth had tried to push her way into the infirmary but the doctor had ordered her out. Naturally, she had ignored the man, which resulted in her being physically escorted into the hallway by a medic and a crew member who was himself being treated for a slight burn injury.

The other injured personnel in the infirmary either sprinted into the hallway or were pushed or carried by crew members. Everyone moved quickly, sensing the urgency as the medics wheeled an unconscious Jack on a stretcher into the room.

Within two minutes, the room had been evacuated of everyone but Jack, three medics, and the doctor. The operating table which was normally stowed upright against a wall had been lowered, the anesthesia equipment was in place, the doctor was running the ultrasound machine across Jack's body, and the sterile surgical instruments had been hurriedly pulled from a drawer and ripped from their paper coverings.

Undeterred by the doctor's order or by her physical removal from the room, Elizabeth waited twenty seconds and then scanned her bracelet across the infirmary door sensor. When the door slid open, she walked in with deliberation.

"Get OUT!" the doctor ordered when he saw her out of the corner of his eyes. He hovered over Jack with a sharp metal instrument in one hand.

"No!" Elizabeth responded but her voice trembled and she lost some confidence when she saw a glimpse of Jack's motionless body on the table.

"Ms. Thornton, I understand your concern, but I do not have time for you and any wifely tears. Get out!"

She was about to protest when someone approached her from behind and placed strong hands on her upper arms.

"Come with me, Elizabeth", Seth said gently as he led her away. "Jack won't want you getting upset."

* * *

"What happened?!" Abigail asked. She was slightly out of breath from running from the Cafeteria after hearing about Jack.

"He's in surgery," Seth answered for Elizabeth, who stood numbly looking at the infirmary door.

When Elizabeth moved forward towards the door - towards Jack - with determination, Seth reached out and pulled her back.

"Talk to Abigail," Seth told her. "Let them do what they need to do in there."

"He needs me. I need him," Elizabeth responded as her eyes teared up.

"He doesn't need you in there now. Now talk to Abigail", the six-foot three-inch tall muscular Seth ordered with all the authority he could muster. "I'm going to go check on Tessa. She was pretty upset by everything. But I'll be back."

Seth looked at Abigail. His eyes asking a question, and she nodded that she'd stay with Elizabeth.

* * *

"It was awful", Elizabeth said as Abigail pulled her into an embrace. "A pallet of rocks fell on him. He was crushed," she added with her voice breaking apart.

Elizabeth pulled back from Abigail's hug and wiped her sleeve against her eyes. She took a deep breath before continuing speaking. "He was in the cargo bay when everything happened. The place is a mess. Boxes and crates of specimens and experiments are broken open everywhere. It's on the outside of the ship so it took a lot of direct hits."

Elizabeth inhaled another deep breath and tried to calm herself.

"One of the cargo specialists found him when she went to check out the damage. He was unconscious and trapped under some rocks. It took three crew members to get one of the rocks off of him." Elizabeth's voice quaked as she re-lived what she had come across.

When Elizabeth had first imagined that Jack may be the injured person in the cargo bay, she had raced through the corridors to get to him, but she could never have imagined how she'd find him. By the time that she had reached the scene, the crew had already moved most, but not all, of the rocks off of Jack. He had been crushed for almost an hour by the time he had been found, causing the medics to be concerned that his blood circulation had been obstructed in parts of his body.

"They were worried that when they removed the rock pressure, it would cause the kidneys to be overwhelmed, and fluid would leak into an injured area and cause him to go into shock," Elizabeth explained weepily.

"Seth said surgery. For what?" Abigail asked.

"Internal bleeding."

* * *

Thirty minutes went by and Abigail had all but given up on keeping Elizabeth from entering the infirmary. She was relieved when the Bud, Candy, Becca, and Seth all showed up in rapid succession to check on Jack and distract Elizabeth. There was only so much one well-meaning friend could do against a younger and physically fit woman with pregnancy hormones and the strength of a worried wife.

"I don't understand. Why was he in the cargo bay?" Elizabeth asked in confusion for the third time.

It was Candy who had the answer. "I saw him at lunch. He asked if I had found an earring anywhere in the living quarters. When I said that I hadn't, he said he had already checked the cafeteria and fitness center. Then he said something about going to check the cargo bay."

"The cargo bay?" Bud interjected. "Why would he look for an earring in the cargo bay? I assume it was one of yours," he said as he looked at Elizabeth. "I never knew Jack to wear an earring", he added with a chuckle.

"He said that he and Elizabeth had gone for a walk there," Candy replied with a shrug.

"My earring", Elizabeth said with a soft strangled voice. "He said he would look for it for me. I should have realized I lost it there. Idiot!", she berated herself. "This is my fault. He was only there because of me and my stupid idea."

"Elizabeth, it's not your fault. You're not responsible for a satellite crashing into an old Chinese space lab and causing hundreds of pieces of debris to be torpedoed into our ship," Bud tried to convince Elizabeth.

"If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have been in the cargo area. If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't be on this transporter. He'd be back on Earth or on Mock Earth. He never would have even gone to Coal Valley," she said, accepting full responsibility for her husband's injuries even if meant going back to a decision from two years earlier.

"It's my fault", Becca offered glumly. "I should have navigated us away from the debris."

"Don't be stupid", Candy told her. "It was a sudden explosion. It happened too quickly. We had no way of knowing it was going to occur."

Seth leaned his head against the wall. "It's my fault."

Elizabeth looked up at Seth and furrowed her brow. "How is it your fault?"

"They were my rock specimens. I'm the damn geologist."

"And the cargo specialist says it's her fault for not ensuring they were strapped to the pallet tight enough and the pallets weren't attached to the wall. There's enough guilt to go around. It's nobody's fault," Bud said. "Elizabeth, do you need anything to eat or drink?"

Elizabeth realized that she hadn't eaten all day. Her boxed lunch was probably still in the corridor where she had dropped it when she had rushed to find Jack.

When Elizabeth, whose head was slumped down in despair, shook her head, the others gave each other worried glances.

"You're pregnant. You need to eat," Abigail told her.

"The baby is the size of the palm of my hand. He or she can handle not having any food for a few more hours," Elizabeth responded dismissively.

Abigail motioned for Bud to go get something from the cafeteria despite Elizabeth's refusal and he took off down the corridor.

"I never even thought he'd be injured," Elizabeth said in a daze. "I was taking care of my students, and then doing a situation report and all the time he was laying under a pile of rocks. All by himself. He was injured and I never even knew it for more than an hour. What kind of horrible wife am I?" she said quietly.

Without waiting for, or expecting, a response, she continued somberly. "It never dawned on me that he'd be harmed because he's Jack. My Jack. He's always strong and protective. He's always been my hero."

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Elizabeth," Abigail said. "The doctor knows what's he's doing."

"The doctor is an imbecile", Elizabeth retorted bitterly. "He can't even figure out if I'm having a boy or a girl. And I'm supposed to trust him to save my husband's life."

* * *

The door sliding open caused everyone to whip their head in its direction.

"I found quite a bit of internal bleeding in the abdomen and make an incision in the skin. I sealed the ends of the leaking blood vessels with a heat probe," the doctor reported without bothering to wait for any questions as Elizabeth immediately stood up and faced him.

"He'll be out for at least another twenty minutes due to anesthesia," the man continued. "After that, I'm not sure. He took a hit to the head. Quite likely, he's got a concussion. He's also going to have quite a few bruises. I'm not sure about sprains yet. We'll know more when he wakes up and can describe where he's in pain."

"Can I go in now?" Elizabeth asked but she really didn't care about the answer. She was going to see Jack regardless of what the doctor said.

"Ms. Thornton –"

Elizabeth didn't let him finish. "Unless you're planning on using your anesthesia on me, I'm going to see my husband," she said sternly as she moved past the doctor.

* * *

Elizabeth took a bite and set the sandwich back on the plate. The tray of food which Bud had brought to her was largely untouched. She swallowed the food without even recognizing whether it was tuna salad or chicken or even ham. Everything was bland. Tasteless. All she cared about was the man lying less than a foot away from her.

When she had first seen him after his surgery, he had been motionless but in the last fifteen minutes he had become restless. Twitching and moving as if having a bad dream.

She moved her gaze from his face to the monitors. She had been sitting next to him for an hour and he hadn't opened his eyes once.

"I won the lottery the day I met you, Jack", she told him quietly. "I won every damn lottery in the world the day you decided to love me."

His clothes which had been cut from him lay in a pile on a nearby shelf. Standing up, she moved the short distance and picked up his pants. Reaching into the pockets, she felt around. They were empty.

She picked up the shirt which he had put on hours earlier as the day had begun. The object fell from a pocket and made a clinking sound as it hit the floor. Elizabeth bent down and picked up her earring.

Clenching it in her fist, she sat back down and stared at her husband. _I'm so sorry, Jack. For every stupid thing I ever did. For trying to be interesting for you when you didn't want me to change. For not kissing you goodbye this morning. For sleeping in late and missing breakfast and lunch with you. If I hadn't slept in, we would have had lunch together. We would have gone to the cargo bay together._

* * *

The doctor finished checking the patient who had been placed in a berth across the room and then moved to Elizabeth's side. He checked the monitors on the wall above Jack's head.

"His color looks fine," the doctor said as he lifted up the bedsheet and looked at Jack's abdomen. "I'm just going to do another ultrasound to make sure there's no more bleeding. I'm pretty positive I got everything but I'll recheck anyway."

Elizabeth moved a few feet away so the man could maneuver the small ultrasound machine closer. Jack let out a low moan as if he was in pain even before the man touched him.

Two minutes later, the doctor pulled the sheet up over Jack's torso and put the sonogram machine back into the corner of the room.

"All looks good internally, but his blood pressure is higher than I'd like. Maybe you can see if you can calm him down," the doctor suggested. "I'd prefer not to give him any more medication."

"Is he –"

"He's going to be fine," the doctor cut her off. "I know you don't think I have good bedside manner and I admit that I'm never going to be an OBGYN, but I'm a damn good doctor. Just get him to calm down a bit."

"How?" Elizabeth asked helplessly.

"Talk to him."

"I have been. He just keeps getting more anxious," she said worriedly.

"It could be pain. Vivid dreams from the anesthesia or medication. The head trauma. Just keep trying."

When the doctor walked away, Elizabeth picked up Jack's hand again and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Do you remember the first time we met? You couldn't stand me. You were so annoyed with my rich high-society ways," she said merrily. "Poor man. You had no idea what you were getting yourself into," she added with a laugh.

Her attempt at humor fell flat as she watched Jack restlessly move on the sheet.

 _Damn it, Jack. Wake up. Or lower your blood pressure,_ she thought worriedly. But then took a deep breathe and with renewed confidence decided that there was nothing she couldn't do. She and Jack would be alright. Better than alright. They would be perfect.

 _I'll sing. That's it. A nice song to calm him down. Hmm. Danny Boy? No. That's depressing. Annie's song? Yes! That was our first song. No. There's that line about 'let me die in your arms'. Definitely no! Most definitely no! . . . . I've tried talking about the baby, about me, about the new home we're going to have when we get to Canada . . . Nothing works._

 _My computer . . . That's it. I know what to do._

* * *

Ten minutes later, when the doctor checked Jack's vital statistics, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Jack's blood pressure had improved tremendously. Especially for a man who had recently been crushed by stone, had internal bleeding and a head injury, and had had surgery.

"Nice job, Ms. Thornton," he said approvingly. "How'd you do it?"

Elizabeth looked at the doctor and smiled. "I read him poetry. I thought I would bore him into having lower blood pressure."

 **Up Next: Chapter 44**

 **Thank you deda, Joyce, Susie, Davila, Sarann, Eyramsey, and all the other reviewers that I can't private message! I love reading your responses.**


	44. Chapter 44 - Breakfast

**CHAPTER 44 – BREAKFAST**

. . . Take a breath. Not too deep if it hurts. . . .

. . . How long has she been here? . .

. . . bleeding . . . .

pain . . .

Elizabeth heard the voices around her but she wasn't sure what was happening as she hovered in that place somewhere between sleep and awareness. The voices faded away as she fell deeper into slumber.

* * *

She slept soundly for another hour and then she was once again brought to the brink of consciousness by the renewal of the voices.

. . . . yeah, just a bit. . ..

. .. .No, I don't need more pain medication. Not yet. . . . .

. . . looks good. . . . raise your arm . . . .

Elizabeth's muddled brain debated if she should pay more attention to the voices but quickly decided not to. Sleep was better.

* * *

. . . you sure that she wasn't injured? . . .

… she came through unscathed. Feisty wife you have there. I should have picked up on that earlier from those prenatal check-ups. . . . .

Elizabeth, who was partially sitting in a chair and partially slumped on Jack's berth, let the words filter through her tired mind before finally lifting her head from the mattress where she had fallen asleep just after midnight.

"Jack! You're awake!" she exclaimed when she saw him sitting up in his berth. Several pillows were behind his back, propping him up. He was wide awake and smiling at her.

"I am. And now you are too." He couldn't help but tease as she stared at him with a look of utter surprise.

"I'll be across the room if you need anything", the doctor said as he moved away.

Elizabeth quickly reached out and put her hand along Jack's forehead as if he needed to be checked for a fever.

Satisfied that he had not somehow developed an infection, pneumonia, or the bubonic plague while sleeping, she next checked that the pillows behind his back were properly supporting him.

Jack shifted slightly as Elizabeth unnecessarily punched her fist into a pillow to adjust it. She then did the same to another pillow, before leaning down and pushing Jack's hair off his forehead where it had fallen when he had leaned forward.

Elizabeth was determined to take care of every detail concerning Jack whether or not it needed attention. In less than a second, she had gone from a sleeping body to a concerned wife, professional nursemaid, and over-protective care-giver.

Without asking, she efficiently picked up a water bottle from the shelf by his side and handed it to him. She didn't know why she did it, other than in every movie she had ever seen, the person in the hospital bed was thirsty and asked for a sip of water.

Jack held the bottle but didn't bother to take a sip. Instead he smiled as if finding her overwhelming concern in the last twenty seconds to be humorous. "How about a kiss?"

"I don't want to hurt you," she stated simply. She made no move to kiss him. Instead she pulled back the white sheet covering him and examined his body.

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed as he yanked on the sheet. "I'm naked under there!"

"Hush. I've seen you naked before. That's how we got this little one in my belly."

"What are you checking for? I've still got all my parts," he chuckled.

"I just want to make sure there's no more internal bleeding. I'm looking for swelling and bruising around the abdomen," she explained as she kept the sheet lifted and her eyes scanned his body. "That looks good. But oh my, you've got a lot of scrapes and bruising on your legs."

"I'm fine. Doc's already checked me over. Relax." Jack padded the mattress with one hand. "Sit down with me."

Elizabeth was about to sit down when she noticed a napkin and a bowl of oatmeal on the nearby shelf. The mushy food looked cold, and when she lifted the spoon out of it, it made a gloppy sound. It didn't look very appetizing but she reasoned that Jack would be so hungry that he wouldn't complain.

Elizabeth perched on the side of Jack's mattress and handed him the napkin while she held the bowl with her other hand.

"How are you feeling?" she finally asked when she realized that she couldn't detect any obvious distress despite her examination.

"I'm fine," he repeated with a casual shrug and then grimaced at the movement. "A little sore. My head hurts a bit, but not too bad. Doc says I'll be fine."

"Eat." Elizabeth motioned to the spoonful of mush when she moved it close to Jack's mouth as if she was a mother feeding a toddler, elderly relative, or a prisoner with his hands tied behind his back.

Jack turned his head to the side to avoid the cold oatmeal mixed with green flakes of kale. "I'm not hungry."

"You have to be. You haven't eaten since yesterday, and I want you to have your strength. Now open up and eat this."

"No," Jack answered. He turned his head away. "I already ate."

"What are you talking about?" she argued. "This is a full bowl."

"That's _your_ bowl."

" _My_ bowl?"

"I ate an hour ago," Jack said with a nod towards a nearby tray that Elizabeth now noticed for the first time. The tray contained a used napkin, fork, and a plate which was empty except for a few crumbs.

"I had two eggs, toast, apple sauce, and some canned fruit. That mush is yours," he added.

"You've been up for an hour?!"

"About two hours actually."

"Why didn't you wake me?" she practically wailed as she dropped the spoon into the bowl on her lap.

"Because you were tired or you wouldn't have been sleeping so soundly. You needed the rest."

Jack reached for her hand and slowly raised it to his mouth. Ever so delicately he touched his lips to it. It was barely a whisper of a touch but it made Elizabeth's insides feel like they were melting.

He gently pulled her upper body towards him. The distance was only twelve inches but he moved so tenderly that she felt like she was in a slow romantic dance as she leaned closer. Not a sexy salsa or a passionate tango, but an unhurried soft ballet. Like a dance where everything around them stood frozen as they moved towards each other.

Elizabeth didn't object. She didn't want to object. She knew that she should be concerned about his health. About his injuries. But when he brushed his mouth on hers, she forgot all about that. Instead she allowed him to kiss her. To whisper to her.

"If you want me to stop, I will," he said in a voice just above a murmur.

In response, she closed the distance which had briefly opened between them. Feeling the warmth of his mouth.

"I missed you," she told him quietly when their lips separated again.

"I've been right here." he replied softly.

Her palms cupped his face which had an unshaven roughness. "I missed your voice," she said gently.

"I felt so alone without you. When I was scared about you, I kept thinking 'I'll just talk to Jack'. He'll make me feel better. But I couldn't. I couldn't have you tell me that everything was going to be okay because you were the reason I was so worried."

Embarrassed by her feelings, she pulled back slightly and dropped her hands from his cheeks.

Jack's voice carried unjustified guilt. "I'm sorry you were worried."

"It's not your fault. It's my –"

"Can I get some water?" a voice cut her off. "Sorry, but I got a tickle in my throat," a man from a berth fifteen-feet away complained. Elizabeth recognized him from working with Candy in the water purification unit.

 _Oh, for Pete's Sakes_ , Elizabeth grumbled. _Is it too much to ask for some privacy on this ship!_ She grabbed a bottle of water from one of the shelves and carried it over to the other patient before returning to Jack.

"I'm sorry," Jack repeated.

"Let's forget about it," Elizabeth said as she tried to brush off any more concerns. "You're awake now."

"No thanks to you," Jack laughed. "Apparently your poetry-reading not only put me into a deep sleep but also the guy in the other berth," he said with a nod across the room. "He's just now waking up. Doc said it worked better than a prescription sedative."

"I was trying to be helpful!" Elizabeth protested.

"And you were. Now, eat your breakfast." He nodded to the bowl of cold mush.

"It's revolting." Elizabeth frowned in disgust at the oatmeal and kale.

Ignoring her facial expression, Jack picked up the dish in one hand, and with the other hand, lifted a spoonful of the mixture towards her.

"Eat."

"I'm not hungry." Elizabeth turned her head away from the mush.

"You have to be. You haven't eaten since yesterday, and I want you to have your strength. Now open up and eat this."

Elizabeth glared at Jack. "How did you remember my words so well?" she asked suspiciously. "You're using them against me."

He chuckled and moaned slightly at the pain it caused in his abdomen. "I'm not using them against you. I'm using them to feed you. And I'm in law enforcement. I'm trained to remember what people say."

"I'm not _people_. I'm your _wife_."

"That you are. And from what Doc said, you haven't left my side since surgery. And apparently, he had to have you forcibly removed so he could actually perform the surgery," he chastised her with raised eyebrows.

"You're my husband. I'm supposed to stay by your side", she huffed disagreeably.

"In most situations, yes. I agree. But not when my body is being sliced open and my blood vessels burned closed. I believe we left that part out of our marriage vows."

"Jack –"

"Don't argue with me. I'm injured, recovering from surgery, and I don't want to worry about you. I want you eat, shower, and go sleep for a few more hours," he pleasantly ordered her as if that settled the matter.

"I'm not going to argue with you," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "I'm just going to love you."

"You can love me later. Now you're going to take care of yourself."

"Jack –"

"I'm not going anywhere. Doc says I'm stuck in this bed until tomorrow. And I'm just going to go back to sleep now anyway."

"Fine," Elizabeth conceded. "But I'll be back in an hour or so. I'll just grab a bite to eat - something decent - and shower. Are you sure that you're okay?" She looked at Jack with renewed worry.

"I . . . am . . .fine," he said as he emphasized every word.

* * *

"You should get some sleep, Officer Thornton," the doctor suggested when he looked at the monitor above the berth as the door slid closed behind Elizabeth.

"Do me a favor first?"

"What's that?"

"Elizabeth had that look in her eye when she kissed me goodbye. Go out and check on her for me, will you?" Jack asked.

The doctor gave Jack a perplexed look. "What look? Do you think she's ill? Something with the baby?"

"Nah. She looked like she was trying not to burst into tears."

"Why? Why would she burst into tears? You're going to be okay. No lasting damage."

"Not a sad cry. And not a frustrated cry. The other one," Jack noted.

"Just how many cries does that woman have?!" the doctor asked in surprise.

Jack smiled. "She looked like she was about to cry from relief. She's hungry, tired, and she's been overwhelmed with stress for the last twenty hours. Just do me a favor and go catch up to her. It shouldn't be far. I doubt she got as far as the elevator. She's probably about five feet from the door. If she's crying, which I suspect she is, will you bring her back in here?"

* * *

Twenty seconds later, the infirmary door slid open.

The transporter doctor, unable to understand why a woman would be leaning against a wall just outside his unit sobbing uncontrollably now that her husband was out of danger, rolled his eyes in disgust.

"Come here," Jack said tenderly as he held out his open arms to Elizabeth.

"Sorry," she hiccupped. She wiped her wet eyes and nose on one of her sleeves. Moving across the short distance of the room, she ignored the other patient who was curiously looking at her and the doctor who had made a exasperated face when he found her in the corridor.

"No apologies. I need some coddling."

Despite her tears, Elizabeth smiled. "You mean cuddling" she corrected him.

"I mean coddling _and_ cuddling from my wife," he told her as he gingerly helped her into his berth. "I'm an injured law enforcement officer. Attacked by an evil pile of rocks. Operated on by a doctor who saved my life but has absolutely no bedside manner. I am desperately in need of a few hours of sleep in my wife's arms."

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 45**


	45. Chapter 45 Bedtime

**CHAPTER 45 - BEDTIME**

Abigail used the side edge of her scoop and made a circular motion in the pale-yellow mixture, allowing for a round even portion. Moving the full scoop over a plate, she emptied the scrambled eggs onto the flat surface and then handed the plate to the person standing in the breakfast line in front of Elizabeth.

The man wearing a crew uniform took the plate and frowned at the meager portion before placing it onto his tray and then moving forward without a word.

"He looked kind of upset. Don't you usually give two or three scoops of scrambled eggs?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

She hadn't eaten in the cafeteria in three days, preferring to take her meals with Jack, who had been moved out of the infirmary after a day and was now confined to his berth under doctor's orders.

At least Elizabeth let him think it was the doctor's orders. Yesterday, the ship's doctor had actually told Elizabeth that Jack could get up and move around, but Elizabeth had decided to keep that information from her husband.

This was the first morning since the space debris bombardment that she had agreed to leave his side long enough to eat in the cafeteria.

Abigail handed Elizabeth an apple, a plate with a scoop of eggs and a piece of toast, and a large bowl of oatmeal, kale, and flax.

"We're on restricted meals until we get to Earth. I've got to find a way to make our food last these extra weeks its going to take us to get back home. I sent Jack's tray to your quarters already," she replied.

The space debris which had hit the ship earlier in the week had caused considerable damage to three engines and some thrustors resulting in the transporter no longer hurtling through space.

For the past three and a half months – up until a few days ago-, the ship had been speeding through galaxies like a fancy sports car on a highway with no speed limits or traffic lights along its route. Now, since the damage, it was moving along like a family's second car stuck behind a tractor on a two-lane country road.

"Have they said anymore about the damage? I thought they were hoping to repair some of the engines."

"We going to be chugging along as best we can. They're estimating the best we can do is fifty percent of our usual speed," Abigail explained. "But don't worry, you'll still get your usual caloric intake. Doctor's orders. And Jack's", she added with a smile. "Despite his injuries, he sent me a message yesterday to confirm that you won't be shortchanged on your meals."

Elizabeth frowned and looked around the room. "I feel guilty. Getting a full portion while everyone else gets less."

"Don't worry about it," Abigail said. She handed a plate with a single scoop of eggs to the person in line behind Elizabeth. The woman took the plate and moved around Elizabeth to continue through the line.

"You're not the only one on full rations. Anyone under the doctor's care gets full meals while they recuperate from their injuries. I've got five, including you and Jack."

* * *

Elizabeth took her tray of food and a box of juice and moved across the cafeteria towards her usual table. She paused before she was halfway to her friends.

A man sat by himself at the table to her right. She had seen him before. Not often, but more recently now that he was allowed out of his room without an escort.

 _Turner. I can't remember his first name. Some kind of scientist,_ she thought.

This morning, he had caught her attention because he was holding an opened book in one hand while eating his breakfast. Anyone with a book intrigued her.

She tilted her head, furtively glanced at the object in his hands, and tried to read the words printed on the cover.

"You're reading 'The Island'. About the leper colony", Elizabeth said in surprise. "It's one of my favorites."

"Mine too. It's got romance, intrigue, historical facts. I know that most people think paper novels are antiques but I like the feel of the paper between my fingers. My wife was a collector of books."

"Me too! Does she still collect? Your wife?"

The man motioned to the empty seat across from him, tacitly inviting Elizabeth to join him.

"She's passed away, but we were married for thirty years," the man replied as Elizabeth set her tray down and then sat in the offered chair.

"Her name was Paige", he continued. "When she met me, she decided it was fate. I used to tease her that she married me just to get my last name," the man said with a smile.

"Fate?"

"Paige Turner. Her being a book lover, she couldn't ask for a better name."

Elizabeth chuckled when she agreed that it was the perfect name for a book lover. "Do you have children?"

Her question caused the man to smile even broader.

"A son named Roman –".

"The French and German word for novel," she interrupted with a laugh.

The man nodded in agreement. "And a daughter named Novella. I told you that my wife loved books."

As Elizabeth ate her breakfast, she found the man to be good company. She soon realized that after eating with the usual group of friends for months, it was nice to have a conversation with someone new.

After talk about books, home towns, and the man's children, Elizabeth finally asked the question that had been on her mind.

"Why'd you stow away?"

"They wouldn't let me go to Coal Valley", the man responded with a shrug. "I wanted to go. I've studied for decades. I know everything about anthracite, growing plants in areas with soil lacking nutrients. Biological hazards. Microbiology. They wouldn't approve me, so I just decided to go anyway. It's been my life's dream."

"Why wouldn't they let you go?"

"I didn't pass the physical. I'm fifty-five years old and have too much wrong with me."

"Your limp?"

"Nah. That's since birth. It doesn't get in the way."

"One of my roommates on the voyage to Coal Valley had allergies," Elizabeth offered. She took a sip of her juice before continuing. "He got a medical waiver."

"That's because everything is so sterile, there's not much likelihood of allergens in space or Coal Valley, which is still pretty desolate, so a waiver is a no brainer for someone like your roommate."

"He was allergic to my perfume," Elizabeth noted as she thought about Carl. "It used to make him sniffle and sneeze."

"Then why'd you wear it?"

"That was to entice my other roommate."

"Did it work?"

"He married me".

The man couldn't help but smile. "Kind of harsh for your allergic roommate to have to go through the sniffles for your love life."

"Yeah. I felt a bit bad but it was worth it. Jack just . . . .well. . . he just made me feel all tingly. Still does," Elizabeth gushed. "If you've ever met my husband, you'd understand."

"I have met your husband and I can't say he made me tingly. Not even when he put handcuffs on me."

"Oh, that's right. He took you into custody," Elizabeth said guiltily. "He was just doing his job."

"I know," the man agreed in a forgiving tone before continuing with his explanation about his ailments. "It wasn't my limp or allergies. It was my asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. The powers that be thought that I'd be too much of a risk. That I wouldn't be productive enough."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth told the man. She realized that she truly meant it. "My dream has always been to be a teacher. I can't imagine if I couldn't do that."

"I've seen you with the kids on the ship. You're good with them. And I'm sorry that I slowed the trip down by a bit for a few days when we had to dock up with Pegasus. You husband wasn't too happy with me."

Elizabeth smiled and put her hand on her tummy. "We're expecting. I just want to get home to Earth and have a normal pregnancy without space worries."

"You're lucky. You being a teacher. That's a level three, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"And your husband is in law enforcement. That's a level two. And both of you on this two-year assignment, that gets you quite a few points. You'll be able to have several children."

"Jack wants to have a whole clan," Elizabeth answered with a smile.

The man sitting with her was correct. She and Jack would be allowed to have several children due to their occupations and duties. This pregnancy had taken her and Jack by total surprise due to its timing, but they had known that they wanted to have children.

Years ago, after decades of over-population, followed by a five-year drought and famine that had covered most of Earth, the World Committee had issued restrictions on child bearing. Each Earth Citizen was granted the right to have a child, or more than one, based on what the citizen provided to Earth. Those citizens who worked to save Earth from further destruction were rewarded. Those citizens that greedily used up resources were not. It was harsh to some, but necessary to save the planet.

Citizens in the highest level, Level One – which was made up of scientists, engineers, and doctors, earned the most points. Military, law enforcement personnel, and some medical technicians were in Level Two. Farmers and school teachers, such as Elizabeth, were in Level Three. Each level was assigned a number with Level One having the most points and Level Ten having the least.

Citizens in the lower levels - such as athletes, entertainers, artists, hair stylists, and shop keepers - were not without hope. While it was more difficult for them to earn points and they rarely earned enough for more than one child, the numerical system rewarded those who, in addition to their regular jobs, did charitable work or who volunteered for hazardous or experimental duties.

Elizabeth had once met a Level Ten citizen who, by doing volunteer work among the sick, had earned enough points to have three children. Unfortunately, by the time the woman had accumulated her points and found time to have her children, she discovered she was barren. Unable by law to transfer her points to another citizen, she and her husband had been blessed with the gratitude of their devotion to Earth but never blessed with adding children to its population.

Between Jack's Level Two rating, Elizabeth's Level Three rating, and each of them earning a large number of points based on their duties at Coal Valley, the couple was luckier than most of the world.

They had love and would be legally allowed to have children.

* * *

Elizabeth smiled as she walked down the corridor. Their trip back to Earth was taking far longer than anticipated, but she reasoned that she could handle another four weeks. She could even handle sharing quarters with Becca and Candy, eating doctor-prescribed meals, and protecting herself from radiation exposure. It would all be worth it.

She was getting closer to home, to starting a real home with Jack.

A home with a yard, and a sun, and sunsets. A home that was furnished with soft plush furniture in a variety of patterns; not the sensible plastic and metal government-issued furniture that had been provided in Coal Valley. A home that actually belonged to the two of them and they never had to leave if they didn't want to.

* * *

"I'm just getting ready to leave," Jack told her as he closed his laptop when the door slid open and he saw Elizabeth enter their living quarters.

"Leave to go where?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"To the lounge. I'm going to watch the games."

"Games? What games?"

"I told you earlier. It's the North American World Series. They were last month but we don't know the outcome yet. Someone sent us the tapes."

 _He did mention it to me, but really, how important can baseball be?_ she thought as she remembered hearing some of the men mention the games to Jack when they had stopped by yesterday _._

"I want you to stay in bed," Elizabeth objected.

"Normally those are a man's favorite words from his wife. But, in this case, you're not joining me in bed. So you'll have to excuse my lack of enthusiasm."

"Why don't you finish that paper for that one course you're taking?"

"I already did. You said you'd proofread it for me," Jack reminded her.

Elizabeth moved out of the way as their roommate came out of the shower room and moved past her.

The woman grabbed a bra and pair of panties from her locker and then moved past Elizabeth again. At least, Elizabeth assumed there were panties in the woman's hands, but given the scarcity of fabric she suspected that they were thongs.

Elizabeth sighed when she remembered that she had promised to read the paper before Jack had to submit it. With everything going on, she had put it from her mind.

"Sorry, I'll get to it today. Why don't you work on the other class in the meantime?"

"I took the final exam yesterday. Can I get out of bed now, teacher? The ball game's calling me," he responded with a smile.

"I'm sorry but you're not going anywhere," she replied simply. "You just had very serious surgery."

"That was three days ago. You've been treating me like an invalid ever since then. I am fine."

"You almost died."

"That was before the surgery. When I was stuck under a pile of rocks. Now I'm tired of being stuck in bed."

"You should have thought about that before you were on a transporter hurtling through space and allowed a pallet of rock specimens to fall on you. Now stay", she ordered and then gave him a quick kiss.

"The only way I am staying in this berth is if you stay with me."

"You know I can't. I just came back to check on you. I've got to get to the messenger center and answer my education assessment, plus I have an appointment with Doc, and then I have to meet my students for class. I haven't taught since the debris bombardment."

"Then I'm going to the lounge" Jack declared. "It's just for a few hours."

"No, you are not."

"It's the World Series!"

"I don't care if it's the Intergalactic Olympics, you are not going," an unpersuaded Elizabeth responded simply.

"There's no such thing as the Intergalactic Olympics. You really know nothing about sports," Jack said in mild disgust at Elizabeth's lack of understanding of the importance of the World Series.

"Whatever", she replied dismissively.

"If you're not staying, then I'm not either," Jack decided. He swung his legs over the side of his berth.

"Get back in that berth!" she ordered. "If you even try to leave this room, I will throw such a fit, that the that the captain will ban the World Series. I mean it."

As Elizabeth went to locker to get her toothbrush, Jack gave a pleading look to Becca who had opened up her curtain after changing and was walking past them to put away her towel.

"I don't mind staying and keeping you company, Jack," Becca volunteered.

"You don't have to do that, Becca. He'll be fine," Elizabeth said as headed towards the sink.

"I don't mind. I don't have to work today. And I stopped seeing the guy in air purification so I've got nothing better to do."

"I'll even crawl into your berth with you so we can play a game of cards or something," the attractive roommate added as she looked at Jack.

"Crawl into bed with him?" Elizabeth's eyes got wide and she quickly came back into the room.

"Since he can't get out."

"Cards would be fun," Jack replied agreeably. "It will be kind of squished in here, but if I can't hang with the guys in the lounge, I'm okay with cards."

"Cards in his berth? The two of you?" Elizabeth asked but no one seemed to hear her.

"Poker okay with you, Becca?"

"I only know Strip poker," she said in a friendly voice in response to Jack's question.

"Better make it gin rummy then," Jack noted as Becca handed him a deck of cards.

"Cards in his berth? The two of you?" Elizabeth repeated more loudly this time.

Becca shrugged. "Unless he wants to take a shower or something. I can help him to the shower."

"He is not to get out of bed!" Elizabeth objected as she imagined Becca with her perky breasts in a wet tee-shirt holding Jack steady under the spray of water. "He does not need a shower!"

"Okay, a sponge bath then. Is that okay with you, Jack?"

"I guess," Jack answered agreeably. "If you don't mind, since I'm stuck in bed anyway. A nice game of cards and then a sponge bath. Sounds good."

"Jack", Elizabeth gasped, but Jack pretended not to notice as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I could use a shower or bath. It's been a few days."

"No problem. Candy can help. She should be back soon. It will be fun. Why don't I crawl in with you now and we play until she gets here?" Becca suggested as she moved toward Jack's berth.

Jack pulled his legs back into his berth and quickly scooched over for his roommate.

"Have you ever had two beautiful women give you a sponge bath before?"

"I haven't" Jack thought pensively. "But I'm –"

"No, he has not," Elizabeth adamantly declared. "And he is not about to."

"I could try it", he offered.

Elizabeth threw her toothbrush onto her berth, marched over to Jack's locker, and pulled out his shoes. "Let's go, Jack. I'll walk you to the lounge."

"I thought you said I had to stay here. With Becca and Candy to take care of me," he responded innocently as he made no move to leave his berth.

"Move!" she ordered.

'But I'll get a sponge bath," he protested.

"MOVE!"

Jack swung his legs off the side of his berth and Elizabeth bent down in front of him.

"I'll put your shoes on you. I don't want you bending your abdomen too much. You need to promise to be careful, okay?" she asked as she slipped his shoes onto his feet.

"I promise. You do realize that I'm not going to be _playing_ in the World Series . Just watching."

"I can't believe what I have to deal with", Elizabeth muttered under her breath as she began tying the laces on one of his shoes. "I'm guessing no woman on Earth has to deal with this."

"Did you say something?" Jack asked.

"No," she replied and then went back to muttering. "A nice relationship with the man I love. That's all I'm asking for. That and a healthy Earth baby."

While Elizabeth finished with one shoe, she moved onto the other shoe. While her head was still bent down, Jack silently mouthed a thank you to Becca, who returned his smile.

* * *

It wasn't until they were in the elevator that Elizabeth realized she had been had.

"She wasn't really going to give you a sponge bath or shower or play strip poker, was she?"

"Nope." Jack tried to keep from smiling as he refused to look at Elizabeth and instead kept his eyes focused on the illuminated number indicating the levels of the ship.

"And you wouldn't have let her even if she wanted to crawl into your berth, give you a sponge bath, or help you in the shower, would you?"

"Nope."

"You played me so you could go see the ball games."

"Yep." Jack grinned broadly, bounced on his heels, and continued to look at the changing numbers.

Elizabeth slammed her hand on the red stop button causing the elevator to come to an abrupt halt. She turned to face her husband and gave him a stern look. "What was in it for Becca?"

"She wanted the room for herself and her boyfriend."

"I thought they broke up?"

"Nope."

"She lied and you went along with this little impromptu acting job? So, she gets the room and you get to hang out with your mates in the lounge and watch sports?"

"Yep."

"Okay, stop with the monosyllabic answers and string together a few more words for me," she ordered.

"Look who's acting all righteous. It's not like you haven't used our roommates to get what you want."

"What is that supposed to me?", an insulted Elizabeth shot back.

"I seem to recall that you had Seth and Carl keep me in the dark when you were trying to get me back after I broke up with you," Jack reminded her. He pulled out the red stop button and the elevator began moving again.

"That was different."

"How?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"I was trying to entice you and you were ignoring me."

"I'm still trying to ignore you," Jack chuckled.

He stopped laughing when he saw Elizabeth's injured look.

"C'mon, Elizabeth. You've been babying me for days now. You practically spoon-feed me. The only time you let me out of the berth is when I have to go to the bathroom. I am fine. I can leave our living quarters. I am not going to fall apart."

"I'm just", she stopped talked and sighed. She knew she was probably being overprotective but she couldn't help herself. "I was just worried about you," she retorted in a huff.

"I know. And I appreciate that." Jack moved closer and put his hands on her waist.

"I was so worried about you," she said barely above a whisper. "I don't want you . . . leaving me. Ever."

Jack looked her in the eyes. Understanding the meaning of her words.

"I am not going to leave you. Ever. Not until we are old and gray and falling apart with a dozen grandchildren. And even then, I probably won't."

Elizabeth gave him a small smile.

"And if you let me go watch the games, I'll let you give me a sponge bath or take a shower with me later," he said seductively into her ear as he leaned his head close to hers.

The couple was still kissing when the door slid open.

"I told you that they're always kissing!" six-year old Tess remarked as she stood with her parents waiting to enter the elevator.

* * *

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 46**

"THIS IS A LOCK DOWN. THE SHIP IS ON IMMEDIATE LOCKDOWN. DOORS ARE NOW LOCKED. ALL PERSONNEL WILL REMAIN IN THEIR CURRENT LOCATION UNTIL THEY ARE CLEARED TO BE MOVED."

Elizabeth looked around the empty room and wondered how long she would be imprisoned.


	46. Chapter 46 -Tomatoes

**CHAPTER 46 – TOMATOES**

Elizabeth escorted Jack to the lounge and situated him on one of the couches in front of the large screen which would be projecting the World Series games. When she kissed him goodbye, she got the distinct impression that he was glad to be rid of her.

 _So maybe I went a little overboard when I found that blanket and tucked it in around him. And told the guys to make sure he didn't drink any alcohol. And told them to message me if he had any coughing._

 _They didn't need to laugh when I said no chest bumping or whatever it is they do when someone scores a touchdown._

The more she thought about it, the more Elizabeth realized that she had acted like one of the mothers she had met when she started student teaching. The desperately concerned women who had dropped off their sons on the first day of kindergarten with teary eyes. The mothers, not the sons.

The mothers who were afraid to leave their sons for a few hours because they worried that the little boys might stub their toes, or wet themselves from nerves, or not make any friends unless they were under their watchful maternal eyes.

 _Obviously, I'm not worried about Jack stubbing a toe, or wetting himself, or not making friends, but . . . what if he hurts himself. Or exerts himself too much. What if it's too soon for him to be out of bed_.

Elizabeth realized that she should be grateful that Jack hadn't wiped away her kiss like it was a disgusting overly emotional pubic display of affection. He had taken it like a man. A man who loved his wife immensely but wanted to hang out with his mates without an overprotective wife hovering over him and messing up sports terms.

* * *

Two hours later, Elizabeth had completed her education assessment, had a quick check-up with the ship's doctor who declared her in perfect shape, and met with her students for an abbreviated lesson.

The idea of teaching a class today had seemed like a good idea until she was actually standing in front of her students and realized she hadn't bothered to prepare anything and couldn't remember where they had left off days ago.

She ended up spending sixty minutes having the children write stories, and then talk about how they felt about the debris bombardment. In poetry.

* * *

"They wrote poems about the accident?" Abigail asked in disbelief. She turned a large can of pressed tofu into a bowl and then reached for another can.

"Tess's was the best. It went something like this: We were traveling through the airy when things got really scary. Everyone started to cry. We all thought we were going to die. The blood was red but no one was dead."

Abigail snorted in laughter.

Elizabeth set down her bottle of water and looked at the meager portions of food. "How are you going to feed over a hundred people with that?"

"We've got some tomatoes growing on sublevel C. I'll see if I can use them to stretch this out. I'm just not sure if there are any more ripe ones left. I messaged the center, but I think the guy that usually works there is in the lounge watching the World Series."

"Jack acted like it's a big deal. Just how many games are there?"

"Could be up to seven. What team is he rooting for?"

"I have no idea, but it sounds like it's going to take a while." Elizabeth stood up from the counter. "How about I go down below and see if I can find any tomatoes."

"That would be awesome. I'm not sure if they'll be any ripe ones, but if there are, I'll take them. You may only find about ten or so, but that's better than nothing. There should be some empty small boxes down there. You can't use the pneumatic tube system, it will crush them. But there's a trans-logic dumbwaiter in the room.

* * *

When the door had slid open revealing the large silver and grey room which was now used as an extra payload bay, Elizabeth paused. It was nothing like before. The special forest that she and Jack had shared was gone.

The room, previously used as a nursery and horticulture room, had been full on the trip to Coal Valley. It had been filled with gardening supplies, vegetable plants, and trees. There had been pine trees, apple trees, maple trees, palm trees. Even Eucalyptus trees. Each species with a unique purpose.

Elizabeth took a few steps into the room, allowing the door to slide closed behind her, and thought back to the first time Jack had brought her here. To see real trees. Now it was a boring barren cargo room with a few grow-lights nurturing some plants.

She spied the small boxes Abigail had mentioned stacked against a wall. Picking one up, she approached the plants which were growing in metal troughs in a back corner. Elizabeth quickly estimated that there were only about twenty plants.

True to Abigail's prediction, there weren't many ripe tomatoes to be gathered.

 _Hmm. No ripe ones here_ , she thought with a frown as she looked amongst the leaves of the plant closest to her.

The static from the loudspeaker bursting to life caught Elizabeth by surprise. She turned her attention to the voice communication system in the corner of the ceiling.

THIS IS A LOCK DOWN. THE SHIP IS ON IMMEDIATE LOCKDOWN. DOORS ARE NOW LOCKED. ALL PERSONNEL WILL REMAIN IN THEIR CURRENT LOCATION UNTIL THEY ARE CLEARED TO BE MOVED.

Elizabeth swiveled around and stared in dismay at the closed door. A split second later, she sprinted across the room hoping to get out before the locking mechanism was activated but it was too late.

When she passed her bracelet over the door scanner, the small horizontal light remained red and the door remained closed.

She was locked in.

Her heart-beat quickened and she turned to look at her surroundings once more. Her eyes scanned the room.

She was locked in. Alone. In a large mostly-empty chamber.

And she had no idea why.

* * *

 _What now?_ Elizabeth grumbled after telling herself that there was no reason to be concerned.

 _Why can't this trip just go smoothly?!_

She looked at her watch and wondered how long she would be locked in. Not knowing why she was locked in the room significantly hurt her ability to figure out how long it would be until the door was opened.

She sat on the cold hard floor and leaned her back against the immobile sliding door _._

 _This is a fine kettle of fish I've gotten myself into! It's never easy, is it?!_

When no new announcements were made in the next thirty seconds, she began to get anxious.

 _How long can this possibly take?_

Unsure what to do, Elizabeth quickly messaged Jack, but he reported back that he was also clueless at this point. He and seven other passengers were locked in the lounge. He was surprised that she was by herself in the payload area because he had assumed she would be with her students finishing up a class. She assured him that she was fine, that the lock-down would probably only last a few minutes, and she'd meet up with him in a bit.

 _Maybe I can find another way out. Why should I have to be locked in here by myself._

With determination, she slapped her knees, stood up, and contemplated how to get out of the situation.

The pneumatic tube machine was out of the question. For one thing, it was too small. And more importantly, she didn't want her insides crushed by the force of the pressured-air pushing her upwards. She shuddered at the thought.

 _Now the trans-logic dumbwaiter is another story_ , she thought as she walked towards it.

Similar to an old-fashioned dumbwaiter in its placement and use, its movable frame operated like a elevator.

Elizabeth opened the compartment and stuck her head inside. Tilting her neck, she peered around inside. Looking up the metal shaft, she deciphered that the flat surface which was several feet above her was the bottom of the carrier.

 _If I get it down here, I can climb inside and ride it to an upper level._

She tentatively pushed the green button labeled "Call" and anticipated the movement of the carrier, but apparently, whoever had locked the doors had also thought to lock the trans-logic.

ATTENTION PASSENGERS, ALL AIR VENTS HAVE BEEN SEALED. PASSENGERS MAY NOTICE A CAHNGE IN TEMPERATURE AS AIR WILL NOT CIRCULATE. ALL AIR VENTS ARE SEALED. THEY WILL REOPEN WHEN APPROPRIATE.

 _When appropriate? What the heck is that supposed to mean? It's appropriate to breathe. Doesn't that count?_

Elizabeth looked down at her bracelet when it beeped.

Her body relaxed slightly when she read Jack's message. Although he didn't explain what was going on with the ship, he told her not to be concerned, that he still had no idea how long the lockdown would last, and that his team had just scored a run.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get out of her imprisonment using the crushing air-pressured tube or the mini-elevator, Elizabeth decided to inspect the room.

PASSENGER TURNER. PASSENGER TURNER. PLEASE NOTIFY THE BRIDGE AS TO YOUR LOCATION. PLEASE NOTIFY THE BRIDGE AS TO YOUR LOCATION.

Elizabeth ignored the message as it wasn't meant for her and continued walking the room.

* * *

It was a huge area, easily covering 2,000 square feet and running underneath many of the upper level rooms. Shelves held a dwindling supply of tin cans and boxes. A few pieces of broken equipment from the recent bombardment were haphazardly scattered around after having been removed from the upper levels. In the far corner, were the rows of tomato plants she had briefly examined.

Elizabeth sighed in exasperation when she looked through the shelves and crates and discovered that there was nothing there to help keep her occupied. She walked back to the plants and began casually inspecting them.

She plucked a somewhat reddened tomato off the vine and bit into it. She tried not to think of the people upstairs who were on rationed meals.

 _I'll subtract this from my dinner meal,_ she rationalized.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Elizabeth ran her hands up and down her chilled arms in an effort to subdue the bumps on her skin that had appeared due to a lack of heat pumping in through the air vents.

 _Let's be logical and figure out why we're on lock-down,_ she decided.

 _They want to keep someone locked out of a room? Or they want to keep everyone locked IN?_

 _The second one makes more sense. If they wanted to keep us out of a room, they'd just lock that room._

 _So why does everyone have to stay where they are?_

 _They're looking for something. That has to be it. Someone has something._

 _But what?_

 _Why did they close the air vents?_

 _Because that's how things are spread. Moving air spreads contaminants. But no one is sick. At least not that I know of._

 _And it seems a bit drastic to shut down the air vents over one person having the sniffles._

 _Why did Mr. Turner have to tell them his location? Oh dear, I hope he didn't do something wrong. He seemed so nice._

* * *

Elizabeth stopped thinking about Mr. Turner when her bracelet beeped with a message from Jack.

How are you doing?

Fine. Bored. Ate a red tomato. How are you doing?

Good. Just got released from the lounge. Going back to our room.

You got released? Why? How?

They're checking passengers in identity-order.

Checking?

Not a big deal.

I should have gotten checked before you. I'm E.T. , You're J.T.

Not alphabetically. You think too much like a teacher. By Earth citizen number. And level. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll get to you soon.

Elizabeth's arm dropped to her side and she sighed in boredom. It was twenty seconds later that she realized that Jack hadn't told her exactly for what the crew was checking.

What are they checking for? she typed curiously.

At first, she waited patiently for Jack's response, which seemed to take entirely too long for a man who should have been waiting subserviently for his wife's queries.

With a disgruntled huff, she realized Jack wasn't the sort of man who would be at her beck and call. Nor would she want him to be that sort. But she knew a message from him would make her feel better.

Elizabeth's mouth turned down slightly in a frown as she wondered what was taking him so long to respond. How hard could it be to type a simple answer as to why the passengers were being checked.

She was about to type another message when Jack's reply came through.

Her eyes grew wide at the words. She quickly read them again as her stomach plummeted.

After reading his message, Elizabeth didn't feel any better. She felt even worse.

Temporary panic would be the best way to describe it. Or maybe temporary panic mixed with horror.

The idea of dying before she got back to Earth suddenly seemed like a very real possibility.

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 47**

 **Dear Readers and WCTH viewers: Unlike the TV show, I won't keep you guessing until the next chapter. Neither J or E dies in my story. :)**


	47. Chapter 47 Bath time

**CHAPTER 47 - BATH-TIME**

Biological Agents?! Elizabeth typed furiously.

From what Jack had learned and just told her, the space debris from earlier in the week had damaged a tank and a freezing tube to a storage unit which contained spores and possible biological hazards from Coal Valley which were on their way to be studied on Earth.

Because the scientists on Coal Valley couldn't determine the exact scientific nature of the foreign and previously unknown substances, they had carefully sealed them hermetically and then encased them in liquid nitrogen.

It wasn't until liquid nitrogen had leaked out of a damaged tank, that a crew member discovered that fluctuating temperatures had caused the specimen containers to crack. The contents had thawed and escaped into ship's open air with the very chemical meant to keep them frozen.

It's going to be okay, Jack's reply came over her bracelet.

What do you mean biological agents?! Bacterium? Viruses? Protozoan? Parasites? Poisonous Fungus?

Yes.

Yes? Yes? Which one?!

All of them.

 _All of them! Oh, God. If it floated into the vents, it went to other rooms. Other levels._

 _Where have I been since the bombardment?_

 _The cargo bay. Our living quarters. The infirmary. The cafeteria. The cafeteria kitchen._

Elizabeth wracked her brain as she mentally revisited each place she had gone over the last few days. Each time she remembered another place she had been, she became more anxious until she thought she might hyperventilate.

 _The classroom. The lounge._

 _The lounge! Jack! No, he said he's okay,_ she remembered with a grateful sigh.

 _But what about me?_

 _I may have been exposed to a biological hazard!_

 _I'm going to die. Alone except for a handful of tomatoes!_ she wailed.

* * *

 _Remain calm. Remain calm_ , Elizabeth, she repeatedly told herself.

 _Breathe deep. Relax._

 _NO! Don't breathe deep! Don't inhale anything!_

 _Okay, that's just stupid. I have to risk breathing._

 _Remain calm. Remain calm._

* * *

Two hours later, she was tired of saying it and no longer needed to. She was bored almost out of her mind. And she realized that if she had been exposed to toxic substance, she probably would have started to have had some sort of reaction by now.

What are you doing? she lazily typed to Jack, hoping she didn't wake him if he was now resting.

She had been typing him every thirty minutes but he had nothing new to report about when she was might be checked. He was back in their living quarters, where he had been sent to remain until the ship was found to be clear.

She wondered if he was taking a nap but a few seconds later he replied.

Still in our room. It's been cleared so it's a temporary holding place.

Are you by yourself?

No.

Who's with you?

Becca. Candy. The guys from the lounge.

What are you doing?

Playing cards.

What KIND of cards?!

Not strip poker. Just cards. How's the baby?

Hopefully not exposed to deadly hazardous biological agents. Or he might have webbed toes and more than ten fingers.

He?!

Not sure yet. Just saying.

He would be nice.

That's what you read in my message? He? What about the webbed toes and more than ten fingers part? Did you miss that?!

Got excited by the he.

If I don't get out of here soon, he or she may just end up being born in a payload bay.

You're not going into LABOR?! ?! ?! !

Not unless labor can be brought on by boredom.

Don't worry about the viruses or whatever. I'm sure you're fine. Its just a slow process to check everyone. So far, no one has tested positive that I know of. Are you feeling okay?

I just threw up but I think that's from eating three green tomatoes. I got bored and hungry.

Don't eat green tomatoes!

I have to pee.

Find a drain in the floor.

That's disgusting.

Guys do it all the time.

I'm not a guy.

Thank goodness.

I'm freezing. There's no heat coming in the vents.

Walk around.

I'm tired of walking around. Come save me!

Jack?

Jack?

Jack?

Sorry, it was my turn. I had a full house. Aces high. I just won you seventeen water-minutes.

Seventeen! Thank you! ! ! !

No problem. Just doing my husbandly duty by looking out for my wife.

Your wife is stuck in a cold barren room. Or did you forget that already?

Jack?

Jack?

Sorry, it was my turn to deal.

Win me some more minutes and I'll give you that sponge bath or shower.

Damn, girl, now I can't concentrate on the cards.

I love you.

I love you.

* * *

Elizabeth was sitting in a trough under some grow lights to keep warm when the room's door slid open forty minutes later.

She scrambled to her feet and would have tripped over the metal container's rim if she hadn't steadied herself by grabbing onto a tomato cage.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE."

With one hand, Elizabeth feebly tried to upright a tomato branch she had broken but she followed the command and remained where she was standing.

Over the shoulder of one of the men in hazmat suits, she glimpsed Jack in the doorway. He had one of his hands on the door jam to keep the door from sliding closed.

"Hi sweetie!" he called out to her.

Elizabeth looked tentatively at the two men approaching her. Actually, she wasn't sure at first if they were both men. They were encased in white suits covering their entire bodies which hid any type of identifying features.

"Hold out your arm," one feature-less body ordered. His voice, sounding firm, echoed through the room.

Elizabeth had barely moved her elbow, when she felt the prick of a needle and saw a drop of blood and then another fall onto a slip of paper.

"Open your mouth, please."

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide as she thought that she recognized the second voice. "Mr. Turner! Is that you?"

"It is," he replied. Elizabeth saw a smile behind his plastic face shield. "It turns out that an old man with four degrees, including one in microbiology and another in evolutionary biology, isn't worthless after all. They've put me to work."

As she allowed her mouth to be swabbed, Elizabeth ran her hands along her arms and shivered. Now that she was no longer under the warm grow lights, she felt instantly chilled.

"Put my sweatshirt on her. She's cold," Jack directed as he unzipped his jacket and tossed it across the room.

"I thought you guys would never get to me," she remarked. She quickly put on the sweatshirt while the younger of the men who was examining her ran a calibrator through her hair. Mr. Turner scrutinized her fingers. Running a swab under each of her short nails.

"You're the last one. The rest of the ship has been cleared."

"I thought they were doing us in order," she whined. "By Earth Citizen number."

"They were at first," Jack yelled out across the room to her. "But then just went level by level," he said with an apologetic look.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Elizabeth had been declared free of contaminants and was holding hands with Jack outside their living quarters.

When the door slid open revealing the crowd of occupants lounging on berths and standing in the small open area, Elizabeth stopped short. She could hardly believe that twelve people could fit in their room. It was twelve people too many in her opinion.

Although the ship had been cleared of biological hazards and the spores were contained, the passengers and crews had decided that there was no reason to stop their impromptu party.

"Hey, she's here. The last of us," someone cheered above the music playing from a computer when he saw Elizabeth standing in the doorway.

An applause went through the room as Elizabeth came inside and made an exaggerated bow.

"You're late for the party."

"I was temporarily detained," she replied with a smile. "Apparently the back room on the bottom level of a transporter is the last place you want to be during a lock time where people are checked in some sort of order."

"We're celebrating that we haven't been killed yet," a young woman shouted humorously.

"Space debris, lack of food, biological agents. Hell, life on Coal Valley was easier than this."

Someone handed Elizabeth a beer, but then, remembering that she was pregnant, took it back.

"Everyone out please," Jack ordered. Although he was friendly, his voice carried a touch of authority which everyone picked up on.

The crowd quickly exited, leaving just the four roommates inside. Becca and Candy both climbed onto their berths and continued a conversation about eligible men and whether they'd rather be stranded on an island with an engineer or a chemist.

* * *

The door had barely slid closed when it opened again.

"Ah, there you are, Ms. Thornton. I heard you were the last of the passengers to be cleared."

"I'm fine. You didn't need to come check on me but that was very nice of you."

"I'm not here to see you. It's my daily check-up on your husband- my other Thornton patient," the middle-aged man explained as he motioned towards Jack.

* * *

"Lift up your shirt," the doctor routinely ordered.

Instead of lifting his shirt, Jack reached his arms over his head, and used both hands to grab ahold of his undershirt's back collar. He pulled the fabric over his head and tossed the undershirt onto his berth.

Running his hand through his ruffled hair, he stood in front of the doctor. "Just as easy to take it off. I need to clean up anyway."

Elizabeth found herself staring at Jack's exposed bare chest. For the last few days she had looked at it in a clinical way. Now she found herself looking at it in a decidedly different way. It glistened with a thin layer of sweat. While she had been freezing down below, the level of their living quarters had been getting a full blast of heat.

Jack moved away the small bandage covering the recent surgical area and allowed the doctor to scrutinize it

When he moved his body, angling it so the doctor could get a better look as his entire torso, Elizabeth averted her glance.

 _It's getting hotter in here,_ she thought as she shifted her feet and then moved to Jack's locker to put away his sweatshirt which she was still wearing.

 _And I don't think it has anything to do with the transporter's temperature._

She looked inside the locker. It seemed the safest place to keep her eyes focused. Staring at Jack's body made her head spin and her lower body tingle.

 _Yes. I'll just keep staring at the locker for a while._

Jack followed the doctor's orders to breathe in and out, but his mind was focusing on Elizabeth. He watched her take off his jacket and shove it into the locker.

Her arms were toned. Her tee-shirt was fitting her more tightly than it had months ago now that she had gained a few pounds. He liked it. Her new fuller figure. He had always liked her muscles, but he liked this too. He liked it so much that he found himself wanted to touch it.

Looking at her made him think of what he wanted to be doing with her. About the things he could do to her. The things he _would_ do to her when they were alone. If they were ever alone again.

* * *

The doctor was efficient with the wound. Cleaning it. Spraying it with antibiotics. Covering it again. It took less than minute but it seemed much longer as Elizabeth found herself wanting to be alone with her husband.

Finishing with Jack, the middle-aged doctor turned to Elizabeth.

"I might as well as check your vitals now too," he suggested, causing Jack to inwardly groan at the delay in being with his wife.

Jack watched as the doctor lifted up Elizabeth's tee-shirt and put his hand underneath it. He knew that the doctor was being totally professional as he used a stethoscope, but it made Jack feel a twinge of jealousy at what the man was doing. Not jealous of the man. Jealous of the man's hands.

Jack wanted his own fingers underneath Elizabeth's tee-shirt. And there was no need for a stethoscope for what he wanted to be doing.

Elizabeth barely paid attention as the doctor moved the medical instrument across her chest and her back. Dropping the instrument, which remained looped around his neck, he picked up her wrist and felt her pulse.

"It's a bit fast," he observed with a mild frown and he counted her beats.

"Yeah, um. Whatever," she replied as realized her thoughts about Jack were having physical manifestations.

"Hmm. Still. I'd like to see it a bit lower. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," she said dismissively. The last thing she wanted was the doctor to spend any more time in their living quarters.

"Lie down on the berth."

 _Those are supposed to be my words_ , Jack thought with a frown. He was finding that Elizabeth's long hair, tousled from her time in the tomato trough, was somehow seducing him.

Elizabeth followed the doctor's instructions, allowing him to lean over her prone body and gently press on her stomach.

Jack sighed in frustration and rubbed his hands together, fighting the urge to cross the room, push aside the doctor, and crawl on top of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at Jack who was now leaning against one of the bunks. Her cheeks became flushed as she thought the most unladylike thoughts.

 _Oh my!_ _What I'd like to be doing with him. How can one shirtless man be so sexy?_

Jack looked up from the floor and their eyes met. She saw by the look in his eyes that he was having the same thoughts that she was having. There was no hiding the desire.

* * *

"Becca. Candy. Would you two mind giving me and Elizabeth some space? We need to talk," Jack said seriously after the doctor had walked out.

Both women looked up from their laptops, gave each other curious looks, and then tentatively closed their computers.

"Sure," Candy replied with a slight worry in her tone.

"How long do you want the place? Fifteen minutes or so?" Becca asked as she jumped down from her berth.

Jack frowned as if contemplating a matter of concern. "Actually, we'll need a lot longer. Maybe an hour or so. Sorry. It's just with my stomach and the long day, I'd rather not have to go somewhere else to have a private conversation."

"We'll be fine. Dinner hour starts soon," Candy offered hurriedly. She hoped that there wasn't trouble in their marriage.

* * *

The door slid closed behind the two roommates who had quickly left to give the married couple some much needed space.

Jack walked to the door and punched in a code. Locking everyone out.

He moved the short distance to Elizabeth, who was sitting up on a berth. Her chest was moving in and out as her heart rate became more intense.

Taking her by the waist, he gently pulled her to him. Without hesitation, he kissed her possessively before separately ever so slightly. Leaving less than an inch between their eager bodies.

His voice was husky as he looked in her eyes.

"I believe that earlier I agreed to let you give me a sponge bath. And I have been waiting an awful long time."

He fingered a lock of her hair before focusing his eyes on her mouth. "I have spent the last few hours thinking of nothing else."

"Really?"

"I lost almost all my water minutes because I forgot that a pair of twos doesn't beat a royal flush," he said in a low voice.

Elizabeth giggled softly. "You didn't?"

"I did. Finally, I realized that without water minutes, there would be no sponge bath. I ended up going triple or nothing and won them back."

"So you were worried about a sponge bath –"

"Or a shower," he interrupted. Somehow he made the word 'shower' sound like a passionate activity which had nothing to do with getting clean.

"Not worried about my safety from biohazards?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nah, you're my Elizabeth. I'm with you forever."

Jack's words were breathed onto her neck as he moved his mouth. "And when I began to worry, I just thought of your nickname."

"My nickname?" she managed to gasp. Her mind was finding it hard to concentrate on his words as his tongue now making tantalizing movements against her left earlobe.

"Mmm mmm" he mumbled while his hands now found their intended target.

"Dandelion?" Her voice faltered.

Speaking in a full sentence was too difficult for her as his hands and mouth assaulted her senses. In a good way. A very good way.

"I've never known a dandelion that wasn't resilient. I had faith in you. You always come through danger unscathed," he noted. "I, on the other hand, am dangerously close to losing all control."

"Let go of my waist and I'll get a wet washcloth", she answered with a breathless gulp.

"Oh no. It's now too late for that", he replied hoarsely as he leaned closer and cupped her face in one of his palms. She closed her eyes, anticipating his touch. But instead of his lips on hers, his mouth brushed against her eyelids. Her cheeks. The hollow of her neck.

Elizabeth's heart quickened even as she felt herself grow weak under his scrutiny.

"You see, all that thinking of you touching me, well . . . I have a strong feeling that I'm going to be getting sweaty in the very near future," he informed her in a low intimate voice before claiming her lips again.

"You're hurt," she reminded him with a whisper when she pulled back slightly.

Her hand touched his chest. He sucked in his breath as her fingers ran along his skin.

And then he was kissing her again.

And slipping her tee-shirt over her head.

His strong and gentle hands stroked her arms, her sides, the dip in the lower part of her spine.

His tongue moved against hers as if the last three days without a passionate kiss had been a month. A year. When in reality it had only been days.

Which was far too long for the couple in love.


	48. Chapter 48 - Future Plans

**CHAPTER 48 – FUTURE PLANS**

There was no doubt about it. Elizabeth was hopelessly in love with the most handsome, nicest, smartest, bravest man in the universe. As she had just told him for the third time in the last twenty minutes.

"No. No. and NO," Jack said forcefully for the third time when Elizabeth once again requested a favor after flattering him repeatedly.

"But Jack –

"No."

"If you loved me –"

"If? If?!" Jack cut her off again. "I love you more than I love myself. I love you enough to stay on a planet colony for two years," he exclaimed. "How can you even say that?!"

Elizabeth sighed at Jack's irritated response and his stunned look.

She decided that he had been most disagreeable ever since he had been placed on the half-rations list like most of the rest of the transporter passengers and crew.

The ship would be arriving back on Earth in a week, and Elizabeth wondered how much worse it would get. In fact, she was probably the only person on the transporter that wasn't in a hurry to get home. Not since her recent doctor's check-up.

After the recent biological threat which had required a lock down, life on the transporter had been tedious. Unless you counted the fights that had broken out repeatedly over the past two weeks due to grouchy passengers and crew members.

The ship was moving along at a slower than usual speed, food was being rationed, and people, even Jack, were becoming more and more irritable. Never fully sated, usually bored, and fed up with the space travel, they were anxious to get home.

Jack reached for a bottle of water on his desk and then paused before he had brought it all the way to his mouth. He growled in frustration and set the bottle back onto the metal surface. He could wait awhile longer.

The regulation of water didn't help with anyone's mood, Elizabeth realized as she watched Jack.

In an effort to conserve water, clothes were no longer washed except for underwear. Drinking water was still provided but was carefully monitored to make sure it was actually being drunk and not taken for additional body washing. In addition, the water from the swimming pool had been filtered and was now used for the minimum showering that was allowed.

Candy, who worked in water purification had gotten plenty of mean stares and rude comments when she cut everyone's remaining water minutes in half.

Elizabeth, due to her pregnancy, was still on full food and water rations as were the children on the flight. Several times, she had tried to pass some of her meals to Jack but he had refused.

She should have realized that when his stomach was grumbling and feeling thirsty, it was not the best time to whine to him about her recent doctor's visit.

She stood across from him in his small security office and tried to be polite but firm.

"And I love you for staying on Coal Valley with me, and I love you for everything you've done, but that's beside the point. The point is I need you to convince the National Health Services that I should not be admitted as an inpatient, I need you to not interfere when I use my family name to pull some strings, and I need you to hide me if necessary," she once again informed Jack of her demands

"I am not going to convince the NHH of anything. Your family name is Thornton, not Thatcher, in case you've forgotten. And the only thing I'm going to hide is my frustration with you. And actually, I'm not even going to hide that."

Elizabeth tore off her lead apron and theatrically threw it onto the nearby chair. "I put up with everything! Why can't you be on my side?"

"Why can't we just wait and see what happens when we arrive back home?"

"Because it will be too late by then! For all we know, Doc will have arranged for an ambulance to be at the tarmac waiting to whisk me off and imprison me for the next four months."

"You are not going to be imprisoned for goodness sakes. You are going to be observed," Jack replied in disgust.

"I don't want to be observed!" she whined. "I am not a guinea pig. They'll want to do experiments on me. On our baby!

"Stop exaggerating. They are not doing experiments on you or our baby. I will not let them. But I will let them observe you. It's for the baby. To make sure that he or she is healthy."

Elizabeth crossed her arms against her chest, pushed the lead apron onto the floor, and plopped down in a huff.

"If you let them take me away, I swear I'll never kiss you again," she said as she glared at him.

Jack raised his eyebrows at Elizabeth's threat but remained silent.

"I swear it's true. I won't kiss you again," she declared again for emphasis.

"Fine," Jack agreed. He flipped some switches and looked at the various computer screens which lined one of the walls of the security office. Imagines of passengers and crew members moving about the corridors and rooms flashed into view.

"Fine? Fine? You're okay with me never kissing you again?!"

Jack, with mild irritation, looked at his wife and considered her somewhat hysterical manner. She had been overly irrational upon learning of the medical officer's plan to have her extensively evaluated when they arrived back to Earth.

Turning his attention to the screens again, he calmly answered her question. "Yes, I will be fine if you never kiss me again. There are plenty of other things you can still do to me. Things I like very much. And I'll still kiss you."

"I'll just stand there," she hotly threatened. "Immobile. Indifferent. Not moving. Frozen in place. Stationary."

"Yes, Miss Thesaurus. I get your point."

"I'm serious. I'll never kiss you again."

Jack turned and closed the short distance between them. Bending down so that their faces were level, he placed his hands on the chairs armrests, and stared at her.

She was imprisoned between his strong arms.

Elizabeth met his gaze and refused to blink. She glared at him despite feeling her pulse quicken at his closeness.

Before she quite knew what was happening, he was kissing her. And she was kissing him back. Deeply. Passionately.

 _Oh my, I love how he kisses_ , she thought as she tried but hopelessly failed to remain stoic.

Jack pulled back with a self-satisfied smile. "You know, you may want to get a dictionary when we get back to Earth. Because I'm thinking you don't quite understand the meaning of immobile, frozen, stationary, or any of those other words you used."

Elizabeth sulked. Although, to be honest, she wasn't quite sure if she was sulking because he refused to give in to her demands or because he had stopped kissing her.

* * *

Elizabeth was starting to believe that men just did not hear things the same way as women. As she accompanied Jack on his rounds through the various levels of the transporter, she couldn't stop thinking of her earlier medical check-up.

While the transporter's doctor had been explaining his plans to the couple, Elizabeth had distinctly heard the words _isolation, observation, testing, panel of scientists_. But Jack had only seemed to hear the words _health of your wife and baby, top doctors in the field of neonatology, no cost to you, best medical care._

"Elizabeth, we, and I said WE, are going to follow the doctor's recommendation and get you checked out by the National Health Services, the Department of Health and Human Services, the North American Pediatric Society and anyone else who might be involved. If you have to be admitted for a full battery of tests – SAFE tests-that's what we'll do," Jack said calmly.

The elevator door opened and they exited onto a floor which appeared to be empty of personnel.

"But, Jack-", she tried to interrupt, but her husband would have none of it.

"IF prenatal surgery is needed for a birth defect, we'll have it done. If radiation therapy is needed, we'll have it done. If you need shots of vitamins -which I highly doubt given the amount of kale and tomatoes you've been engulfing – we'll get you vitamin shots."

"But Jack-"

"WHEN you are given a clean bill of health, we'll go visit your family for a week or two. Don't you want what's best for our baby?"

"Don't you dare suggest that I don't care", she retorted before giving up in defeat as they stopped in front one of the large floor to ceiling windows and stood side-by-side, holding hands and staring into the universe. Stars twinkled in the vast darkness like miniature Christmas lights.

Jack had won this battle.

Upon arrival back on Earth, she would be admitted to the country's top medical facility for the world's most thorough study of the first human pregnancy in space after long-term space travel.

Finally, realizing she had no choice but to get thoroughly examined by eager scientists, Elizabeth did the only thing she could do, and it wasn't even intentional.

"Come on, don't do that", Jack moaned when he looked sideways at her.

"I can't help it," she sniffled as she wiped away tears which had suddenly spilled out of her eyes.

Jack wrapped his arms around her.

"I just want to go home," she whined. "It seems like we'll never get there."

"We don't have a home yet," he reminded her with a poor attempt to lighten her mood.

"You know what I mean. I want to be cozy. After two years of being in space, I want to sit in a soft thick robe in a comfy chair in front of a fireplace –"

"It's summer-time in North America right now," Jack interrupted. "We wouldn't have a fire in a fireplace even if we had a home."

"But I get what you mean," he added as she wiped her runny nose on her arm.

"I just want to be normal," she explained with soft teary eyes. "I want to go grocery shopping and walk through the woods and plant a garden and go to the mall. I want to visit family and friends."

"And you will. Our families will be there to meet us when we land. We'll get hugs and kisses and more hugs and kisses, and then we'll go get you checked out."

"You haven't even met my mom and dad yet in person. Dad's still waiting for you to ask his permission to marry me", she noted.

"I think that ship has sailed. And I'll meet your folks. And you'll meet my ma. You can even have our moms go with you to the hospital. But if something needs to be done with the pregnancy, the sooner we get it taken care of the better. I don't want to think that our little boy or girl needs something and we're off relaxing in front of a fireplace-

"No fires. It's summer time" she reminded him as she sniffled.

"- or shopping at a mall or walking through the woods. We've known since the beginning that your pregnancy is unique."

"They want to study me like I'm some kind of anomaly."

"You are. You're going to be the first person in the world to give birth to a healthy baby after two years in space. So, let a few doctors feel like they're important and let them write their papers on you."

"What if I have to stay there for the rest of my pregnancy?"

"Then that's what you'll do."

"But I'll be lonely," she pouted.

"What about me? Are you bored with me already?"

Elizabeth gave Jack a bewildered look. "But you'll be with family. Just visiting me sometimes. Like everyday. Please"

Jack looked at her comically and smiled at her perplexed and pleading expression.

"Won't you?" she asked in confusion.

"In the last twenty four months, I have not gone more than a few hours at a time without seeing you. I'm not about to start when we get back to Earth."

"You'd give up your freedom and visiting your mates and family dinners and ballgames and everything?" she asked in awe. "Even though we're just getting back to Earth?"

Jack grinned. "You've become a necessity to me. Kind of like oxygen. I'm going to stay with you at the hospital."

"You'd do that for me?"

"You and me. Together. Forever. You know that," he affectionately reminded her. "And besides, I'm not about to let my wife go off without me and be stared at without her clothes on by a bunch of curious doctors who are going to be in awe of her."

Elizabeth met his grin with her own as she nestled into his arms. There was no doubt about it. She was hopelessly in love with the most handsome, nicest, smartest, bravest man in the universe. Forever.

 **Up Next: Chapter 49**

 **Dear Readers: Like many of you, I have watched WCTH to enjoy an hour a week of light-hearted TV. Presently, I have to say that I am disgusted with how they are handling Jack. While my Vignettes under the name jellybean49 have drama, they always end happily. With my woolenslipper stories, I intentionally try to keep Reversal of Fortune mostly light-hearted and I hope it gives you quite a few laughs when you read it. With this story, I also am determined to always show the love between Jack and Elizabeth, and more importantly, without despair. I want you to look forward to my chapters, not dread them like I now dread WCTH. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I DO appreciate you and your feelings.**

 **On a totally different note, did you read the Parade article this week where Dan said he liked space and would like to go to Mars? He's already on a far away planet in this story! 🙂**


	49. Chapter 49 - Numbers

**CHAPTER 49 -NUMBERS**

"Four . . . Ten. . . and . . . .Ten."

Elizabeth, who was lying on an examining table, tightly squeezed the hand of Jack, who was standing to her right.

To her left, Mr. Turner, the middle-aged stow-away who had turned out to be a wealth of knowledge and was volunteering in the infirmary, stood next to the ship's chief medical officer. The two men stared at the black and white image being produced by high-frequency waves. The strained silence in the room was broken every few seconds by the doctor calling out numbers.

A nervous Elizabeth remained still while the doctor moved the sonogram wand along her belly, which had been prepped with a light green-colored gel. Even Jack, who normally remained calm even in stressful situations, was tense as he looked at the screen and tried to decipher what the other men were seeing.

"Two," the doctor called out the new number. Mr. Turner typed the number into the chart on his small hand-held computer.

"Two," the man with no bed-side manner said again less than a minute later. The Thorntons remained quiet. Afraid to break the doctor's concentration.

"One. One."

"One."

"And . . .four", the doctor announced happily as he removed the wand from Elizabeth's belly.

Both men smiled at each other which made Elizabeth feel better. She had been too nervous to ask what all the numbers meant, but the expressions of the men, and the action of Mr. Turner, who now touched her shoulder in a congratulatory way, caused her to release the breath she had been holding in anxiety.

"Good?" she questioned the men. Jack was silent but she felt his hand clench hers a bit tighter as he too awaited nervously.

"Excellent," the doctor announced. "I am really impressed. Things are going much better than I had dared hope. Especially given the potential for radiation exposure."

"All those numbers?" Elizabeth questioned while she moved to sit up. Jack put one of his hands behind her and helped her into a sitting position on the examination table.

"Four, ten, ten, two, two, one, one, one, four," Mr. Turner said. He set his computer on a counter and handed Elizabeth a paper towel to wipe the gel off her abdomen before continuing.

"Four limbs, ten fingers, ten toes, two kidneys, two lungs, one liver, one stomach, one spleen, four chambers of the heart. You have one healthy baby."

The faces of Jack and Elizabeth both broke out into large grins.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Jack asked.

"It is," Mr. Turner said with a twinkle in his eyes. "You can be surprised now or you can be surprised four months from now. Which would you like?"

The smiling couple looked at each other, both thinking the same thing, before answering. "Four months from now," Jack replied for both of them. "It doesn't hurt to wait."

* * *

"It hurts," the six-year old girl pouted to her teacher.

Elizabeth put her hand on Tess's shoulder and escorted the tearful girl down the corridor to the infirmary. Class had ended a few minutes early due to the little girl's injury.

"It's going to be fine. Doc will spray it with something to numb the pain," Elizabeth explained to her young student.

"Doc's mean."

"He's not mean. He's just. . . gruff. I saw him this morning and he's a very good doctor."

"What if another one gets me?" the girl asked with a sniffle.

"It's going to be okay. No more will get you." Elizabeth's voice rose at the end of her reply as she grabbed the Tess and pulled her to the side of the corridor to avoid the insect flying towards them. Within a split second, two women came running down the corridor in their direction.

"Don't swat at the honey bee! Don't swat at the honey bee!" they screamed in unison as they chased their elusive prey.

* * *

The honey bees had been brought to Planet Assaymark a year earlier, had spent 12 months pollinating new plants and producing honey, and were now being returned to Earth for study after having been replaced with two new colonies.

Kept in the small etymology room on one of the lower levels, their colonies had never been a problem.

Until now.

It has all started with the food rations. Days of reduced portions had led to complaints, growling stomachs, and morbid discussions about the Donner party of 1847. Some crew members had even made a list of which people should be eaten first if the transporter was delayed even more.

Although Elizabeth knew they were just joking – at least she hoped they were, she still kept her hand protectively over her stomach when she heard someone complaining about being hungry. She realized that with her healthy size she was probably at the top of every potential cannibal's menu.

Yesterday, two of the passengers had remembered about bee colonies. More importantly, they had remembered that honey bees make honey. Golden delicious thick honey. _Edible_ golden delicious thick honey.

Unfortunately, the two passengers knew almost nothing else about honey bees. Unable to distinguish between drones, workers, or the Queen, and not realizing that smoke dispensers can be used to distract the insects, they had simply covered their arms with sweatshirts, opened the plexi-glass boxes which enclosed the combs, and thrust in their greedy hands.

The bees, which were savvier than the would-be thieves, had attacked immediately in defense of their food supply.

Soon the queens from each colony, hundreds of male drones, and female worker bees were flying throughout the transporter. It was the female worker bees with stingers that were the problem. All sixty-thousand of them.

* * *

"PASSENGERS AND CREW ARE PROHIBITED FROM KILLING OR INJURING THE HONEY BEES. THEY ARE A SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT. ETYMOLOGY PERSONNEL ARE COLLECTING THE BEES. PLEASE ALLOW THEM TO DO THEIR JOBS. ANY PERSON FOUND TO DISTURB A BEE WILL BE ARRESTED.

"You have got to be kidding me?" Jack rolled his eyes in disgust at the intercom announcement. He and Elizabeth were leaving the security office where she had stopped by to meet him after she had taken Tess to the infirmary and then to the girl's living quarters.

"That's what my life has come down to?" he continued. "I am an expert marksman, have black belts in two forms of martial arts, and I'm up for promotion to investigator, and this is what I'm left to? Arresting people for swatting at bumble bees."

"Honey bees", Elizabeth corrected him.

"Whatever", Jack said disagreeably.

"Let's not think about the honeybees. Let's concentrate on something exciting and new," Elizabeth encouraged good-naturedly.

"Like maybe next I'll be arresting people for stealing spiders?" he asked dryly.

"Noo. Like picking your new assignment," she said eagerly.

The door to their living quarters slid open and they entered the room which was empty of their roommates.

Elizabeth sat down on a lower berth and took off her shoes while Jack scooched up against a propped-up pillow near her and opened his laptop.

The small brown box on the shelf along her berth shelf caught her attention and she hesitated a moment before reaching for it.

She opened the box and guiltily looked at the pastry which was meant as her afternoon snack. Abigail had frozen several pastries weeks prior to the rationing and was still given Elizabeth one a week as an indulgence.

 _Gosh, this looks delicious._

"Ugh. I can't possibly eat this," Elizabeth said as she turned her head away in disgust.

Jack gave her a curious look. "What are you talking about? It's a chocolate croissant. You love them."

"Not any more. You eat it or I'm throwing it out."

"You can't throw it out. It's food," Jack responded. His own stomach suddenly felt emptier than it had in hours. "And since when don't you like them?"

Elizabeth scrunched her nose as if the scent of the croissant was offensive and handed the pastry to Jack. "I don't know, but if you don't get this out of my sight, I'm going to be nauseous."

"Nauseated. You never get that right."

"Whatever," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "Just eat it."

Jack hesitated for a moment. Torn between forcing his wife to eat the croissant and filling his own empty stomach.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'm not hungry and the smell makes me gag."

Elizabeth turned to her computer effectively ending the conversation before Jack could realize she was lying to him.

"We have to list our three top choices," she said. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Jack hesitated only one more split second before gratefully taking a bite of the croissant.

"Hope Valley, Canada. I like the name," she said at first but then paused. "But you never know. Some people's idea of hope isn't the same as others. They may just call it that as a marketing tool. And I read somewhere that they have too many birds there. Let's stay away from there."

"What'd you put down as another option?"

"Fort Rose, Vermont. I like the sound of that. Although, I'm not sure how often they have roses in Vermont. It gets chilly there."

"It's named after a person, Captain C. Rose. Not the flower. And Elizabeth, we can't pick our next assignment based on the name. We need to look at location, job opportunities, cost of living," he said sensibly.

"I am. But names are important. I've crossed off several places in North America. Most of the South is a no-go. Too warm. And they have alligators."

Jack chuckled. "I don't think the entire region has gators, but I like Autumn. Riding horseback through the trees with their changing leaves" Jack added. "Not going to happen there."

"How about Montreal?"

"I heard it's great but one of us isn't so hot with French."

"Good point. How about New York?" Elizabeth asked.

"Depends. Not near the city. Too busy. Up north near the Thousand Islands would be nice. They get a lot of lake-effect snow though."

"How much snow?"

"Lots of snow. Lots and lots of snow. Lots and lots and lots of snow. Might be a bit rough."

Elizabeth frowned at the idea of juggling a baby in one arm while shoveling piles of snow with the other. "We want somewhere with four seasons, not too busy, but busy enough. A good job for you and a good job for me. How hard can it be?"

Jack gently pulled Elizabeth up against his body. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"I love you. You truly are the best thing that has ever happened to me. And no matter where we go, we'll be fine," she said. "As long as we're together."

Jack tilted his head and placed a kiss in Elizabeth's hair. "I love you."

The couple stayed snuggled against each other while Jack scrolled through the possible assignments.

"Hey, how about this one? Liskow, Canada. It sounds perfect for us."

Elizabeth leaned towards the computer and read the description of the posting on the screen.

"It does sound perfect! Put it as number one on our list. Liskow. I like the way it sounds", she said excitedly. "I love you," she happily noted as she lifted her lips to his for another kiss. "And I love that you're mine, Officer Thornton."

OFFICER THORNTON TO LEVEL THREE ROOM BRAVO. OFFICER THORTON TO LEVEL THREE ROOM BRAVO. CODE GREY. CODE GREY.

Elizabeth looked towards the intercom which was blaring the announcement and then at Jack. "Think someone swatted at a bee?" she joked.

Jack scowled as he gently extricated her from his arms. "This one's a fight. Code Grey. You stay here."

 _Not on your life_ , Elizabeth thought as she scrambled from the berth and followed after him. _Where you go, I go. The two of us are a team forever. Besides, I want to see who's fighting this time._

 _"_ Elizabeth, I thought told you to stay behind," Jack yelled over his shoulder when he noticed her hurrying down the corridor behind him.

"You did. I just chose not to listen to you."

"Give me you hand", he said as he reached for it. "And stay out of the way when we get there."

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 50**

Dear Readers, I don't think I need to tell you how angry I was after the TV show season finale! If you feel the same way, please read my story "The Missing Last 10 minutes to Season 5 finale that they forgot to air".


	50. Chapter 50 - The Fight

**CHAPTER 50 – THE FIGHT**

"It's probably nothing", Jack said as he held Elizabeth's hand and they sprinted down the corridor in response to the intercom's official request for Jack's presence. He jerked his head to one side to avoid a bee buzzing by them. Remembering not to swat at the insect. "These are mostly intelligent well-educated professionals," he added.

"Nerds," Elizabeth offered.

"Right. Their idea of a fight is more like a playground fight," Jack said optimistically as they skipped waiting for the elevator and took the stairs to Level Three.

"I'm good at scolding students," Elizabeth offered helpfully.

* * *

The couple gave each other worried looks when they opened the stairwell door to the lower level and heard the noise coming from Room B.

This was no playground fight. This was an all-out brawl.

When the room's door slid open, Elizabeth jumped back to avoid the body of a man falling towards her. The red-haired man faltered, caught himself on the door jamb, and then turned back to the crowded room, rushing to rejoin the melee.

Jack had years of living on a ranch and spending time in the outdoors, experience at more than one wild college party, and his law enforcement training, but he still found himself stunned by the scene. He dodged a bottle that was flying through the air, and found himself sprayed with liquid when it hit the wall.

Before he could yell for the fighting to stop, a woman stumbled into him. Jack was about to ask her if she was okay, when she extricated himself from his steady hand, pulled back her arm, and punched a crew member passing by.

Chairs were being swung, bottles were being used as weapons, fists were punching, legs were kicking, and people were being held in choke-holds.

Jack ducked as the first punch was thrown his way but the second one hit him square in the jaw. He stumbled on his feet until he was able to grab onto the table behind him to steady himself. Before he had time to react further, a burly man who reeked of cheap champagne grabbed a laptop and began swinging.

 _Champagne_ , Jack thought in confusion as he swiftly moved sideways. He quickly clasped his hands together, brought the clenched fists down onto the man's back, and propelled him to the ground.

"Enough!" Jack yelled.

Moving swiftly, he grabbed a woman by her crew uniform and yanked her off of her potential victim. He threw her aside where she landed into the arms of Seth, who had just entered the room and was coming to help stop the chaos.

What are you doing?!" Jack demanded when he saw Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye. She had pulled a woman in her twenties off of Becca and forcefully thrown her into a corner.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" he ordered his wife when she didn't respond at first but reached out an arm and pulled her roommate off the floor.

"I'm helping you!" Elizabeth explained.

"You could get hurt!" he yelled back as he grabbed a man by the neck and yanked him back before he could punch someone.

"Stop it!" he yelled in her direction before looking to the door and seeing Bud enter. The man immediately began separating brawling men and women.

When Jack held back a man whom he recognized from navigation, he glanced over to see Elizabeth high-kick someone in the ribs. The man fell down just before he had hurled himself at Jack.

"I said stop it!" Jack yelled across the room.

"Okay. Okay!" the defeated man in his arms replied eagerly.

"I'm not talking to you! I'm talking to my wife!" Jack said tersely.

He dropped the man and scanned the room.

A split second before a chair slammed into her abdomen, Elizabeth reacted instinctively. She swerved, pivoted, and kicked at the assailant, who promptly fell to the ground. The man looked up at her with a stunned expression, and then one of immediate regret.

"Oh man, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you!" he said apologetically. "I didn't hurt you, did I?!"

"I'm fine", she exhaled. "But stop fighting"

"Okay, Okay. Sorry again, ma'am."

Jack jumped across a prone body and pulled Elizabeth into his arms protectively. "What the hell were you doing?" he asked in stunned exasperation.

"I'm protecting you!" Elizabeth said in defense of her actions.

"Protecting me?! Stop it! Get out of here."

"Duck," she said calmly.

Jack immediately reacted to her order and avoided a punch which went over his head. The man throwing it went tumbling to the ground in a heap.

Jack left Elizabeth just long enough to separate the last two fighting men, and held them apart. "Calm down! Both of you!", he ordered tersely. The men's tired shoulders sank in surrender and one of them whimpered that he was out of breath anyway.

The room's earlier loud cries of anger were now replaced by moans and groans. Seth and Bud were standing menacingly near several people who cowered under them and nursed their injured fists or ribs which would soon be bruised.

Elizabeth heard one person mumble disagreeably, "You should have just let us kill some of each other. Then there'd be more food for the rest of us to eat."

"I need the doctor," someone else muttered.

"Wait your turn," Becca replied as she limped toward the door.

Jack surveyed the crowd of bodies and gave Elizbeth an incredulous look.

When she merely gave him an innocent shrug, his look turned to one of exasperation.

"What were you thinking?" he asked in disgust.

"That I could help."

Jack shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey" she said with another casual shrug. "You're the one that taught me Krav Maga. I'm just doing what you taught me."

"You shouldn't be doing it when you're pregnant", Jack reminded her as he helped two men up from the floor.

"I shouldn't be stuck on a crippled transporter in space either. But I'm doing that," she said with a smile. "And where you go, I go."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the couple made their way back to their living quarters. Jack had decided not to press charges against anyone for fighting, but the passengers would be reprimanded for stealing the cases of champagne meant for the celebratory final night aboard the transporter.

"I'll write my report later," he said with a frustrated shake of his head. "Half of them don't even know why they were fighting; they're just sick of being on this ship. Cheap champagne on empty stomachs and irritable tempers. What a mess."

"I thought it was pretty cool," Elizbeth remarked as she started to thrust her fists out and punch the air. "I was never in a real fight before. Not part of my Hamilton upbringing".

"Stop that," Jack ordered as Elizabeth continued to shadow box as she walked next to him.

"Uh uh, I'm a fighter," she said proudly. "Did you see me kick that guy?"

"I did. And I'd just as soon forget I did. Did you forget that you're pregnant?"

"I think maybe that's why I'm so jacked-up," she replied as she continued to punch at an imaginary opponent. "No pun intended. Get it? Jacked-up? 'cause I'm pregnant with your baby and jacked-up also means really stimulated."

"I get it," he sighed.

"All those hormones rushing through my body. Maybe I should be a boxer when we get back to Earth."

Jack gave her a comical sideways glance.

"And give up teaching?"

"I could do both." She ducked to avoid an imaginary punch and kicked into the air.

Before she could defeat her non-existent opponent, Jack placed his hands on her hips and hoisted her up over one of his shoulders.

"Hey! What are you doing?" she exclaimed. She moved her head sideways so she wasn't speaking into Jack's back. Her head was upside down causing her long hair to fall from her scalp like a curtain.

"The fireman's carry."

Without explaining any more, he began walking down the corridor with his wife draped over his shoulder. His arms held tightly to the back of her legs so she didn't fall.

"Why?!"

"Because you're not a fighter. You're a lover. And I intend to remind you of that."

"This isn't the romantic carry," she said with a grumble but then couldn't help by smile as one of Jack's hands passed over her bottom.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," he replied with a smile.

When the door to their living quarters swung open, he walked in and punched a code into the scanner beside the door.

"Are you locking the door to keep our roommates out?" Elizabeth asked with a giggle. She was still upside down and over his shoulder so she couldn't see what he was doing but she had a pretty good idea.

"I am."

He gently lowered her to one of the bottom berths and crawled on top of her. Elizabeth didn't say anything but looked up into his face which was just a few inches above hers. The look in Jack's eyes left nothing to the imagination. His gaze was fixed on what he wanted.

She couldn't decide if she should tease him and push him off her body or allow him to kiss her.

Of course, she knew she didn't really have a choice. She hadn't had a choice since almost the first moment they had met two years earlier. Her mind dreamed of his kisses. Her lips craved his kisses. Her body yearned for his kisses. She was his.

Instead of pushing him off, she stared back at him. Anticipating the warm touch of his mouth. Grateful he had locked the door.

"So, I'm not allowed to protect you?" she said breathlessly. The atmosphere had quickly changed from light-hearted fun to thick with desire.

"Let's get a few things straight, Mrs. Thornton. There are only two places you are allowed to be. One is out of harm's way."

"Where's the other?" she exhaled as her heart began beating faster.

"Where you are right now," he said seductively.

"Under you?" she whispered as he lowered his lips to hers.

"Exactly." His lips were moist and warm. She was torn between wrapping her arms around him or selfishly lying there and letting him give her pleasure.

"What about on top of you?" she said breathlessly as his lips trailed her neck.

"You talk too much, Mrs. Thornton," he murmured before ending the conversation with his tongue.

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 51**


	51. Chapter 51 - Homeward Bound

**CHAPTER 51 – HOMEWARD BOUND**

Jack was still more than ten feet away from Elizabeth as they walked towards each other but he could already tell by the look on her face that she was not happy with her students. She had the scowl that she reserved for a mixture of disappointment, confusion, and irritation.

Jack, on the other hand, had a smile on his face because he was thinking of yesterday's after-brawl make-out session. Once they got to back on Earth, he and Elizabeth would no longer have the ability to fool around whenever the urge struck them and they could find a locking door.

The only downside of being back on Earth that he could think of was that he would miss the benefits of always being in close physical proximity to Elizabeth. Jack highly doubted that his next assignment would allow him to constantly have his wife within five minutes of his lips.

"What happened?" Jack asked with a chuckle as he reached her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Stupid students", she grumbled.

"What'd they do now? You only have a handful. How hard can it be?" he smiled as they began walking together down the corridor.

"I had them write short stories about something totally unusual. Wildly imaginative. For a creative writing lesson."

"And?"

"One of them wrote that when we got back to Earth, you left me for a mermaid," Elizabeth frowned. "Why would he write something like that? It's so stupid."

"I left you for a mermaid? Why?"

Elizabeth huffed before answering. "Apparently I was boring and wore a bad wig."

"Did you have cancer?" Jack asked curiously.

"What?" Elizabeth looked at him in confusion.

"Why were you wearing a bad wig? Did you have cancer?"

"No, I didn't have cancer!" Elizabeth protested irritably.

"So why were you wearing a bad wig?"

"He just wrote that I had a bad wig and you didn't like it, so you went and fell in love with a visiting mermaid."

"A visiting mermaid? Did she wear a wig?"

"The wig is not the point! It was a bad wig. That's all! The point is you left me!"

"Not realistic. I don't like fish. All those scales," Jack said with an exaggerated shiver of disgust.

"That's what bothers you? You ending up with an imaginary mermaid? What about us being apart? Me stuck alone and pregnant in a bad wig?"

Jack chuckled. "It's not true. It's just a bad idea that someone made into a story. Are you really bothered by it?"

"A little," Elizabeth admitted as she took hold of Jack's arm and snuggled closer as they continued to walk.

"Elizabeth, a bad writer who can't come up with a decent story is not going to change the truth. You and me are together. Forever. Happily married with lots of children one day. Who cares what some idiot writes."

"I know you're right," Elizabeth agreed with a small smile before continuing. She was already starting to feel better just being with Jack.

"But I still gave him an F."

* * *

The couple exited the elevator on level B and immediately pushed themselves against the wall to avoid two crew members hurriedly walking towards them in a jovial manner. The men were laughing as one of them took an object from a brown box and handed it to a female passenger about ten feet ahead of Jack and Elizabeth.

"We're almost there! We're almost there!" one of the men called out encouragingly as he now thrust an object into Jack's hand. His partner took something from the box and handed it to Elizabeth.

A surprised and baffled Jack and Elizbeth watched the men walk away as quickly as they had appeared.

Elizabeth looked at the object in her hand.

"A Milky Way candy bar?"

Jack's eyebrows crinkled. "Same here."

"What was that all about? We've been low on food for weeks and now they're passing out candy bars? Where did they even get them?"

Jack stared at the brown label with the green letters surrounded in white. His mouth turned up in a grin when he understood the significance.

"We're home," he said in grateful realization. He shifted his gaze from the candy in his hand to his wife, who still looked puzzled.

"We're finally home," he repeated with a smile.

* * *

Elizabeth and Jack stood in front one of the transporter's observation windows and stared into the mostly black vastness that was illuminated by one milky band of light made up of luminescent stars.

After understanding the reason for the sweet treat, they had hurriedly made their way to one of the large windows lining the outside edge of the transporter where they had joined several other passengers already gazing into the vastness.

The ship had traveled thousands and thousands of miles and now, after months of flight, it was back in the Milky Way, the galaxy containing the solar system that was home to Earth. It was home to more than 300 billion stars and 100 billion planets of various sizes. The passengers only cared about one star - the sun. And they only cared about the nine planets closest to their hearts.

"We're almost back to Earth," Elizabeth said giddily as she squeezed Jack's hand. "We're back in our galaxy!"

* * *

After ten minutes, the couple finally broke away from the view. They swung their hands between them with their fingers interlaced as they walked the transporter's long sterile corridors.

In three days, they would be landing. Seeing their families. Feeling Earth's gravity. Breathing in a world of scents.

* * *

"I'm not endorsing candy as a food group, but it has definitely put smiles on everyone's faces. And helped ease their hunger a bit", Abigail told Elizabeth and Jack as they stood in the lounge on level B and enjoyed game night.

Several people sat around a table playing Bunco. A few more were throwing darts at a round target made of cork. Becca's perky breasts were bouncing as she played hologram tennis against another player who was obviously distracted by the beautiful woman's moving body.

"It's tradition," Abigail continued as she talked about the candy. "Whenever a returning flight enters the Milky Way, they pass them out. We were worried we'd have to dip into them to feed us before we entered our galaxy, but the captain was pretty adamant that we try not to."

"It's a nice surprise. Everyone is suddenly happy again," Jack said as he looked around the room. "It's like the past weeks of low rations and slowed speed and disruptions are past us."

"The transporter's not done with surprises yet," Abigail replied with a mysterious smile.

* * *

The next morning, Elizabeth had forgotten about Abigail's hint of more to come.

Feeling healthy, happy, and content with life, she hummed a pleasant tune written ages ago. Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" had become the standard in the last twenty-four hours. Having been played over the intercom last night and again this morning, the melody was now stuck in Elizabeth's head. Not that she minded. In fact, she loved the song. She could barely wait to see trees of green, red roses, skies of blue, and clouds of white. And rainbows! She wanted to see a rainbow arching over a lush green valley. And mountains. She wanted to see snow-capped mountains and vast oceans.

A smiling Jack joined in on the melody as the couple walked with their breakfast trays to their familiar table.

Elizabeth was just starting to set down her tray when a drop of water fell onto her arm. And then another. And then it was landing in her hair.

She looked up and stared in mild confusion at the sprinkler system above her. It was definitely dripping.

Elizabeth moved her head and noticed that the other sprinkler heads were also dripping.

And then, the water began to fall more steadily. Like a gentle rain. Not a harsh spew of fire-suppressing water that she would expect if there was an actual fire in the Cafeteria.

In fact, at first, Elizabeth thought it was just a minor malfunction, but then the water began to come down heavier and getting everyone wet.

The crew members, who should have been rushing to investigate a fire, were smiling. The calm uniformed men and women simply used one hand to put their trays over their heads to stop from getting wet and continued to eat with their other hand.

The passengers, following their lead, put their trays over their own heads, but instead of eating, they looked at each other in confusion.

The loud unmistakable sound of thunder, something Elizabeth hadn't heard in two years, caused her to jump in surprise. She stared at Jack in bafflement.

The only rain on Planet Assaymark had been after the biodome accident, and that rain had ended more than a year ago when the staff had finally figured out how to correct the damaged systems.

Another low rumble of thunder came over the intercom. It reminded Elizabeth of hot summer nights when the rain had been a welcome relief from stagnant muggy days. She used to lay in bed listening to the sound it made on her vacation cabin's metal roof.

But that had been in Canada – where it was supposed to thunder and rain. This was a transporter in space – where it was most definitely not supposed to storm.

It was Tess who finally broke the confused murmurs of the passengers.

"It's raining!" she exclaimed happily. "It's raining. It's pouring. The old man is snoring," she said in a singsong voice.

And then the rain stopped.

A few left-over droplets fell down, making little splashes but the downpour was over.

Almost immediately after the sprinklers had stopped emitting water, several crew members from the kitchen brought out mops and dried up the floor in a matter of minutes. They laughed and smiled at the passengers while they moved their long-handled tools in sweeping motions across the floor, and swiped thick absorbent towels across the tables.

"Just a reminder of home", one of crew informed the dazed passengers, several of whom hadn't been quick enough to cover their food and now found themselves staring at wet toast.

Abigail walked over to the table and gave Elizabeth a hug. "It's your first time coming back to our galaxy. The thunderstorm represents one of the things we've all missed. All day there'll be occurrences to celebrate our homecoming."

"I like it!" Elizabeth replied enthusiastically as she thought about reminders of Earth. "It's like a breath of fresh air."

* * *

The air stank, causing several people aboard the transporter to crinkle their noses in disgust.

Elizabeth, sitting on a lower berth, stopped brushing her hair and pinched her nostrils between her finger and her thumb. Of all the temporary scents today, this was the first one that she found offensive.

She had loved the smell of lavender fields, and she had gotten giddy when the smells of cotton candy and funnel cakes – reminders of a carnival- had wafted out of the air vents as pleasant cues of home. She had sighed deeply in happiness when she had recognized the smell of a wood-burning fire-place.

Every hour or so a new scent from home -from Earth- had enveloped the ship only to quickly disappear until only the memory lingered, and the anticipation of the next scent remained.

But this.

This scent wasn't flowers or reminders of roasting marshmallows or waiting in lines with friends for exciting carnival rides.

This was a smell she recognized from her family's ranch.

"Smell it?" Elizabeth asked a shirt-less Jack. He was lying on the floor, his hands clasped behind his head, and his knees bent as he lifted his back off the floor.

"Seventy-four", he said before replying to her question. "Yep."

"And it makes you smile?" she said inquisitively when she saw his face. "And stop doing those crunches. I'm still worried about your stomach."

Jack sat up again and paused. "Doc says I'm all healed. And you like my six-pack abs. I've seen you staring at me," he reminded her.

"I like you healthy more than I like your six-pack." _Although, gosh, I do love his body._

"You'll get both. Healthy AND sexy as hell," he replied with a grin as he stood up. He grabbed a towel from his berth and wiped off the thin layer of sweat on his neck. "I love the smell. Manure. Horses. Riding through farms."

Elizabeth moved her hand away from her face and breathed in deeply. "I do like riding," she admitted as familiar memories came back to her. "And horses. And farms. We won't be able to go riding until after the baby is born, but you'll love my family's horses."

" _You_ won't be able to go riding until after the baby is born. Nothing stopping me," Jack replied. He pulled a t-shirt over his head and then raked a hand through his tousled hair.

"You said you're going to stay at the hospital with me if I have to stay for observation!" she protested.

"That was before I thought about horseback riding. Riding through the wilderness on a summer evening. Enjoying nature. Or sitting inside a boring hospital room? Hmm." He pursed his lips as if contemplating which scenario was the better option to choose.

"I'm your WIFE!"

"I haven't ridden a horse in two years," he reminded her. "That's a long time to be without a favorite hobby."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "You want to go another two years without riding something?" she threatened. Letting him know full well what she was referring to. "I seem to recall you have a favorite hobby with me."

Jack chuckled. "You're not going to try that threat of withholding affection from me, are you?"

"I may just," she huffed.

He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which she pretended to accept only begrudgingly. "You know as well as I do that you can't resist me," he said with a self-satisfied grin.

"Honestly, how could you even consider leaving me imprisoned in a hospital?"

"You're not going to be imprisoned," he laughed before continuing to bait her. "And you have to admit, I should at least _think_ about how to best spend my time now that we're going to be back on Earth."

"You think about it any longer and you're going to have another injured stomach," Elizabeth growled at her teasing husband.

Jack chuckled again. "Speaking of abdomens, don't you have another check-up today?"

* * *

"I'm actually quite impressed that the fetus is still at a normal five-month state," the transporter's doctor observed as he moved the measuring tape away from Elizabeth's stomach. She was lying on the infirmary's now very familiar examination table.

Elizabeth pulled her t-shirt back down over her slightly swollen stomach and moved to sit up.

"She's been taking really good care of herself," Jack remarked as he put a hand behind Elizabeth's back and helped her into an upright position.

"As long as you don't go into labor in the next two days, you should be fine," the middle-aged professional replied in his best attempt to have a good bedside manner.

"Why would I go into labor in the next two days?" Elizabeth asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Since you're the only woman to ever be in this situation, no one is quite sure how your body would react. It was always possible that the radiation bursts to which you've been exposed could have accelerated your baby's development."

"Accelerated?"

"You know. Turing a nine-month Earth pregnancy into a shorter space pregnancy. "

"No, I don't know!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "You thought my pregnancy would be sped up in space?! And you never told us?!"

Jack narrowed his eyes at the doctor and his mouth tightened in irritation at the man.

"There was always the possibility that your baby would experience rapid growth", the doctor replied with a shrug. "But I don't think we need to worry about that now. Your child is at the perfect size for its gestation. That's not our biggest concern anymore."

"Our biggest concern? What's our biggest concern?" Jack asked worriedly. "We land in two days." He moved closer to Elizabeth and put his arm protectively around her shoulder.

"You must have thought about it," the doctor said in surprise. "I assumed you would have considered the very real possibility."

"What very real possibility?!" the couple asked in unison.

"That during reentry into Earth's atmosphere, the G- forces will bring about labor and the baby will be sucked . . .or pushed. . .or perhaps pulled", he said as he contemplated the precise word to use, "out of the womb. Well, out of _you_ to be totally accurate. It's not unusual for people to vomit or get light-headed due to G-forces or even lose some bodily functions. Naturally, the forces may cause you to deliver your child in a matter of seconds."

"Seconds?!"

"Well obviously it would be much quicker than a normal delivery. Less than a minute rather than hours and hours. Of course, it would be much more dramatic too. That's why I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to have you strapped in for landing," the doctor remarked with a pensive frown. "It certainly wouldn't do to have the baby just come shooting out of you while we're descending."

As he continued to ponder the situation, the doctor failed to notice the horrified looks on the faces of the Thornton couple.

It wasn't until a flustered Jack quickly grabbed a paper bag and handed it to Elizabeth to stop her from hyperventilating that the doctor even realized that maybe he should have kept his thoughts to himself.

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 52**


	52. Chapter 52- Preventive Measures

**CHAPTER 52 – PREVENTIVE MEASURES**

Elizabeth was beyond upset. She was somewhere between distraught and hysterical.

"He said our baby may come shooting out of me!" she wailed to Jack as the couple made their way to their living quarters. "Like a geyser! He actually said my water might explode out of me like Old Faithful at Yellowstone!"

"He was just being dramatic," Jack replied as he tried to get her to calm down. He was now concerned that if the G-forces didn't bring on early labor, Elizabeth's frantic agitation might just do so.

"Months! We've been on this ship for months and he never mentioned a problem with reentry! He never mentioned rapid fetal growth! He never mentioned any of this. He just put me in a lead apron and sucky shoes and on an absolutely disgustingly healthy diet!"

Jack stopped walking and gently pushed an agitated Elizabeth against the corridor wall. Standing directly in front of her with her back pressed against the hard surface, he allowed only an inch between their bodies.

"Listen to me," he said firmly but still compassionately. "Our baby is going to be just fine. There will be no geyser. No Old Faithful. No early labor. No delivery in space. There will be nothing out of the ordinary. We will land on Earth, hug our families, and get you checked out. Then we will spend another four months enjoying your pregnancy without lead aprons and sucky shoes and the craziness of space. And I'll even let you eat junk food."

Elizabeth's teary eyes met Jack's gaze but she continued to think of the doctor's dire predictions. "He said the pressure may cause contractions. The baby will have no choice but to be propelled out."

"Stop," Jack ordered. "Stop thinking about what he said."

"He said it's like when you take a peeled hard-boiled egg and stick it on top of bottle with a narrow neck," Elizabeth reminded Jack as she found herself rambling on.

"And you heat the glass bottle and the air expands, and then you remove the heat and the air contracts and the pressure changes and the outside air particles push into the bottle to equalize the pressure inside and out, and the EGG IS SUCKED INTO THE BOTTLE! MY BABY WILL BE SUCKED INTO THE TRANSPORTER! OUT OF MY BODY!"

Jack sighed in exasperation as he thought about the doctor's words. "I don't care what he said. He was just being overly scientific. Thinking of what could _possibly_ happen. Not what will _likely_ happen. The man has no idea how to deal with probabilities and real people."

"I don't want our baby to be propelled out of me and land in my seat," Elizabeth sniffled. "He or she is only five months along. It's too early. And I don't want my water to spew out like a fire hose."

Jack scowled when he thought of the doctor's descriptive words. Geyser. Fire hose. Intense. Powerful contraction. Champagne cork popping. A cannonball being fired out of a cannon.

"Our baby's not a cannonball," Elizabeth whimpered as she too considered the doctor's words.

"No, he or she isn't", Jack agreed.

"Or like one of those t-shirts that are shot out of a launcher at football games for people in the stands to catch," she wailed. "Our baby's not a balled-up t-shirt!"

"It was a stupid example he gave," Jack replied as he tried to be the calm one of the two of them.

"We have to go back", Elizabeth declared firmly as she wiped her eyes. "We don't have a choice. We have to go back."

"To the doctor's office? I don't know why. He's not going to tell us anything different. Let's forget about him."

"Not the doctor's office. We have to go back to Planet Assaymark," she responded matter-of-factly.

Elizabeth squished her body past Jack and began walking down the corridor as she continued talking. Leaving a stunned Jack to hurry after her. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't you see? We need to use the mini-transporter and have it take us to a transporter heading in the direction of Planet Assaymark. We'll transfer to the larger transporter. It will be a four-month journey but hopefully, we'll arrive back at Coal Valley just before my due date. The baby will be born in Coal Valley. It's not ideal but we won't have the same G-forces."

"Elizabeth, we are not going back to Coal Valley."

Jack hadn't even considered his wife's irrational idea before emphatically disagreeing with her.

"You're right," Elizabeth agreed readily as she contemplated the situation for more than two seconds. "It's too much of a risk. We might not make it in time. I would be nine months along by the time we got there. We'll go to Mock Earth. Much closer. We can be there in a few days. We'll live there until after the baby is born."

"Elizabeth, we are not going to Mock Earth. We are going home. To Earth. Real Earth."

"No," Elizabeth shook her head as if the decision had already been made and was no longer up for consideration.

"We'll go to Mock Earth. We can find a place to live for four months. I won't have a job but that's okay. I didn't want to work so soon anyway. I don't know what you'll do, but you can think of something," she rattled on hurriedly. "The G-forces to land there will be minimal. We'll have to make arrangements immediately. We can quickly pack and schedule to take a mini-transporter. How about we plan to leave in an hour?"

"An hour?! Elizabeth, calm down. We are not going to Mock Earth to live for the next four months! We are going home."

Elizabeth ignored Jack's protests as she busily planned their new destination.

"Thankfully we don't have much to pack. We just need to check that the mini-transporter has enough food and water for the trip to Mock Earth. We can probably have it set to autopilot. Unless you think you can pilot it. You're good at things. You can probably figure it out. Our families will just have to wait to see us. Maybe Julie can visit us on Mock Earth." Elizabeth continued to rapidly speak as she reached the stairwell and opened the door.

Jack pushed his hand against the doorframe and stopped Elizabeth in her tracks.

"What are you doing? We need to get ready," she asked him in frustration.

"You need to take a deep breath and calm down. We are not going to Planet Assaymark or Mock Earth. We are not taking a mini-transporter anywhere. We are going home. Everything will be okay."

"But Jack –" her voice trailed off as tears began forming again.

"Shh. It's going to be okay", he said tenderly.

"He or she won't even have an Earth Citizen number", Elizabeth said with a sob. Now that she had stopped talking for more than a second, her mind was back to worrying.

"An Earth Citizen number?" Jack questioned.

"It will be the only baby in the universe without an Earth Citizen number", she moaned. "Because he or she won't be born on Earth. Our baby will pop out of me like a champagne cork. A champagne cork without an Earth Citizen number," she cried.

Jack tried not to smile at Elizabeth's seemingly frivolous concern of an identification number. "Our baby will have an Earth Citizen number because he – or she – will be born on Earth four months from now."

"How do you know?" Elizabeth sniffled and then rubbed her nose on her sleeve.

"Because I'm your husband and I'll never let –"

Jack's reassuring statement was cut off by a huge blast of air that roared out of the vent a foot away from them causing Elizabeth's hair to billow into her face. She turned away from the blowing wind.

Jack moved to shield her from the brutal airstream.

"Wind", he said in mild frustration when the gale stopped seconds later. "To remind us of Earth. Although I think a breeze would have done. That was more like a Nor'easter."

After gently moving her hair from her face, Jack kept a palm on her cheek. "We're going to be just fine."

"Promise?"

"I promise. I will never let you down."

* * *

"Let me down," Elizabeth said with a giggle as Jack swirled her around the communication room.

Two minutes ago, they had received a message from an OBGYN on Earth that had made them both feel a hundred times better.

After the transporter doctor's dire prediction, Jack had escorted his tearful wife to Mr. Turner, Abigail, the ship's Chief astronomer who was herself a mother of three children, and anyone else who had experience with biology or babies. Everyone had attempted to alleviate Elizabeth's fears.

Not satisfied by Elizabeth's weak assurance that she was felt much better after talking to them, Jack had sent a message to Earth.

Now that they were close to Earth, transmission times were much faster, and after his message had bounced from satellite to satellite to satellite in a relay system, it had arrived at Canada's top maternity hospital an hour after it had been sent.

For the next two hours, the couple had nervously waited for a response.

When the beeping sound signified an incoming hologram, Jack and Elizabeth had quickly watched the hologram, hugged each other in joy, and pushed the button to forward the message to the laptop of the transporter's doctor.

"Let me down," Elizabeth giggled again as Jack swayed back and forth.

"Nope. I'm not letting you down," Jack said good-naturedly as he continued to hold Elizabeth so that her feet didn't touch the floor. "You owe me some more kisses. It took me a lot of pull to get that message seen by the Chief of OBGYN at Albert Maternity Hospital.

Elizabeth smiled broadly and wrapped her legs around Jack's waist so that he was carrying her securely. "I love you. And thank you."

"For my delicious kisses or for contacting the doctors?"

"For both."

* * *

Jack's mouth was warm on hers. Moist. Possessive. Tender. Loving.

He never took his lips off her as he walked the two of them the short distance across the room. With one hand, he blindly reached for the single mattress that was kept against one of the walls for situations just like this.

While Elizabeth's tongue continued to deliciously mingle with his, Jack clumsily maneuvered the mattress to the floor.

* * *

"Ahemmm," the throat-clearing by the man in the doorway caused Jack to jerk back from his position lying on top of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, with her back against the mattress which was now on the floor, looked in surprise towards door which had silently slid to one side and had allowed her most despised enemy to appear standing over them.

While Jack stared at the man, Elizabeth quickly began to pull her t-shirt over her head and then realized it didn't matter. _He's seen more of me than just my bosom in a bra._

"I apologize for interrupting your marital relations but I'm ready to take the necessary precautions to stop potential labor. I assume you watched the hologram message you forwarded to me," the transporter's doctor said.

The middle-aged man's voice had a hint of distain for the couple that seemed to constantly feel the need to have sexual intercourse with each other. In fact, they were probably the most passionate couple he had ever come across. It seemed that since the beginning, they were harping at him for his medical care of the other one, crying over something, worrying about the other one, or just plain acting in love with each other.

"Precautions?" Jack asked. He stood up and shoved his t-shirt into his pants "You mean the medication? I thought one of the doctors mentioned that you wouldn't need to administer the magnesium sulfate until about twelve hours before re-entry."

"That's correct, but I'm going to go ahead and take care of the cerclage now. I messaged both of you but I can see that you were . . . . preoccupied."

"The what?" Elizabeth asked. Jack reached out a hand which she grasped and he pulled her to her feet.

She and Jack had been so happy to hear that the chances of preterm labor were minimal and with simple precautions the risk could be virtually eliminated that they hadn't bothered to actually delve into more facts. The three doctors in the hologram had all seemed to think it was just a matter of taking a few simple precautions.

"The cerclage," the transporter's doctor responded to her question. "If you'll come with me to the infirmary, I'll take care of it. It shouldn't take but a few minutes."

"Um. Okay," Elizabeth responded. She honestly had no idea what the doctor was talking about, but she was more than willing to take a medication to prevent labor. When she had heard the words magnesium sulfate and cerclage, she assumed it would be in pill form, but she could swallow a liquid as long as it wasn't too disgusting tasting.

"You want me to go with you?" Jack volunteered.

"Nah, I'm sure it will just take a minute, like Doc says. I'll meet you back here." Elizabeth said with a smile and a knowing look which caused Jack to grin with the thought that they would be picking up where they had left off.

"Doc, are there any side effects we need to know about? Nausea? Dizziness?" Jack asked before Elizabeth walked out the door with the man.

"Side effects?", the doctor gave Jack a confused look. He cleared his throat before speaking. "No real _side-effects._ But just so you're aware, you won't be about to have sexual relations with cerclage."

"Why not?" Elizabeth was the one who now looked confused. "Isn't it just a pill?"

"A pill? No, of course not."

"A vial of liquid medicine?" Elizabeth asked with a grimace. She hoped it at least tasted better than some of the vitamin drinks he had forced her to drink.

"No," the doctor responded with a frown at the ignorance of the woman.

"A shot?" Elizabeth asked hesitantly. "I do hate shots, but I can handle them."

"Doc, what exactly are you going to do to Elizabeth?" Jack asked hesitantly when the doctor simply stared at Elizabeth like she was a simpleton.

"I thought it was obvious. Cerclage."

"What exactly do you mean by cerclage? What _IS_ cerclage?"

"Stitching."

"Stitching?" Elizabeth repeated in bafflement.

Doc looked at the two people standing in front of him and sighed before continuing. He hated dealing with naïve people.

"I'm going to sew up your wife."

"Sew her up?!" Jack erupted.

"To prevent labor. I'm going to sew your wife's female anatomy closed."

For the second time in less than six hours, Jack found himself looking for a paper bag to stop Elizabeth from hyperventilating.

 **Up Next: Chapter 53. Touch Down on Earth**

 **Dear Readers, Thanks for following Jack and Elizabeth on their return voyage over the last several months. They've almost landed!** **I wrote and posted the first chapter of their return voyage on December 13, 2017 and I think it's only fitting that I write and post the chapter with them landing on May 13, 2018- five months later, just like the five months they've experienced in the story. That way we've all taken the trip together. 😊**


	53. Chapter 53 - The Weaker Sex

**CHAPTER 53 – THE WEAKER SEX**

Jack was beyond upset. He was somewhere between queasy and disgusted.

"He's going to sew you up," he needlessly reminded Elizabeth as he stood next to her in the infirmary. "Are you sure you're okay with this? This is . . . well, it's just . . . it's got to be painful", he told her with a grimace.

"It's going to be fine. He's going to numb me. For goodness sakes, Jack, it's not that big a deal." Elizabeth remarked as she lay with her back on the examination table.

Once the doctor had explained that he would be putting just two stiches in her cervix and that they would be removed at her first check-up on Earth, Elizabeth had remarkably calmed down. In fact, the more nervous Jack became, the more her maternal instinct kicked in, and she took charge.

"He's putting that thing inside of you," an unsettled Jack noted as his eyes took in the stainless-steel instrument that looked like it was going to be used to pry his wife open in some form of medieval torture.

"It's called a speculum," the doctor announced in a bored voice. "And I'm guessing your wife has had one inside of her on a yearly basis."

Jack's face drew back as if the doctor had insulted Elizabeth and insinuated that she had some immoral medical condition that required treatment. He was about to defend her honor, when Elizabeth spoke up.

"Every year since I was about twenty-one. Just like recommended," Elizabeth remarked, leaving a clueless Jack to realize that he may not know as much about women's bodies as he had thought.

"Feet in the stirrups, please," the doctor ordered as he moved between Elizabeth's legs.

"Oh, God, I can't watch," Jack moaned. He let go of Elizabeth's hand and wiped his brow.

Elizabeth turned her head sideways and gave him a look which conveyed humorous scorn.

"If you cannot handle watching me get two stiches in less than a minute, how are you going to be there to support me in childbirth? You are planning on being there, aren't you?"

"Of course, I'm going to be there. This is different. He's sticking a needle in your _privates."_ Jack shuddered at the thought.

"Just where exactly did you think that this baby was going to come from?"

"It's a needle! It's got to hurt or make you, I don't know, freak out."

"Right," Elizabeth said sarcastically. "As opposed to a much larger needle in my spine when I get an epidural, or hours of pushing an eight-pound baby out of me."

"He's going to sew you up," Jack couldn't hide the anxiety in his voice.

"Just two small stitches. And he's not sewing up my vagina."

Jack cringed at the word. "You don't need to say it. Just call it something else," he suggested.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her husband. Men seemed to have no problem talking about the female anatomy except when the actual scientific terms were used.

"Are you sure you're okay with this? I am so proud of you. I could never have someone stick a needle in my . . .you know," Jack said.

"You don't have a _you know_."

"I mean my private man part," Jack unnecessarily clarified.

"Do me a favor?" Elizabeth asked.

"Anything."

"Stop whimpering and go stand across the room. You're going to drip sweat on me."

* * *

"All done," the doctor announced as he moved away from Elizabeth.

"That was it?!" Jack said in surprise.

"Men," Elizabeth said. "You really are the weaker sex."

* * *

Sex was out of the question the next day for the Thorntons, but that didn't stop everyone aboard the transporter from feeling love and affection. As the transporter got closer and closer to Earth, the ship's occupants realized that it was bittersweet.

Elizabeth, who was stepping out of a very brief shower, jumped when she heard a car horn honking.

 _I should be used to it by now_ , she chided herself, but she couldn't help but smile.

Every time the crew sent another familiar Earth sound through the intercom, Elizabeth had to catch herself and remember that they were just audio recordings.

"You almost ready?" Jack called out from the adjoining room.

Elizabeth walked out of the shower area. "Two minutes. I just have to throw on some clothes."

After five months of close living, she had ceased being self-conscious of her body in front of her roommates and had long ago given up clumsily dressing in her berth behind closed curtains or trying to change in the small bathroom when one of the other people assigned to share it might want to use the room.

She maneuvered her panties on without removing her towel, but then dropped the large cloth.

"Anyone seen my clean bra?" she asked with a frown.

"You packed it," Candy answered from one of the top berths. "You packed everything. Someone's in a hurry to get out of here."

"Aren't we all?" Elizabeth asked with a smile.

She grabbed her Louis Vuitton bag, a relic from two years earlier, and pulled out her bra. Slipping it on, she hooked it in the back, and then reached for her green blouse. Tonight, was the transporter's farewell party. A chance to say goodbye to everyone before the last-minute preparations for arrival back to Earth.

"I've already got my vacation plans arranged. A week in St. Croix. Scuba diving, laying on a beach, sipping cool drinks", Becca announced.

'I'm going skiing. Booked my tickets last week," Candy offered. "You guys must be desperate for Earth even more than us. We've only been gone nine months, you've been gone two years."

"I can hardly wait to get home. But I'm going to miss everyone from Coal Valley and the transporter," Elizabeth said wistfully.

"Passengers always feel that way. Crew members are lucky, I guess. We just have a month of vacation and then back to work on the next transporter. Candy and I will be roomies again. Passengers are dispersed all over the world. Everyone going back to their old lives." Becca noted.

Elizabeth moved out of the way for her roommate, who jumped down from a berth and pulled off her uniform. Standing in a demi-cup bra and a matching thong, Becca looked in her locker for something to wear to the party.

"I can't decide what to wear."

"You only have two outfits other than your uniform," Elizabeth reminded her as she gave Jack a knowing look. _How long does it take to decide between two outfits?! I am not going to miss sharing my husband with two other women._

"Unless I wear something of Candy's."

"You can wear my leather crop top. I'll wear your blue blouse," Candy answered.

 _Just put on something_ , Elizabeth silently ordered as she buttoned her green blouse which was fitting snuggly.

She didn't really want the image of Becca's perfect body seared in Jack's mind when one of his most recent images of Elizabeth's body was of her lying on an examination table with her feet in stirrups. Not to mention red eyes from her previous bout of crying, hair tousled from the air bursting out of vents in an attempt to mimic wind, and a slightly swollen stomach.

Instead of putting on clothing, the scantily clad woman pulled a blouse from her locker and tossed it to Candy.

Now there were two almost-naked women in the room because Candy stripped off her clothing and hopped down from her berth.

"You're so lucky, Elizabeth. You have Jack to give you advice on what to wear."

"I think Jack's the lucky one", Elizabeth muttered. As small as the room was, there was no real way for Jack to avoid seeing the flat stomachs, full bosoms, and perfectly round derrieres of two of his roommates.

Elizabeth had once asked Abigail if she thought that the Candy and Becca were so often half-naked in their living quarters because they truly had no inhibitions or because they were flirting with Jack. Abigail had honestly responded that she didn't think they were flirting, but she couldn't be sure if maybe they didn't do it on occasion just to get a rise out of Elizabeth.

After five months, Elizbeth realized it was probably a combination of both – lack of inhibitions on their part as well as the need to break the monotony of space travel by good-naturedly taunting Elizbeth on occasion.

She couldn't blame them. Space travel could be dull and tedious. A stowaway, space bombardment, and biological hazards could only break up boredom for so long.

"She does have me," Jack said with a smile. "Although you two have me as roommates too," he added pleasantly with a teasing glance to Elizabeth before continuing. "You should probably use me while you still can. You've got me for one more day."

"Okay, what do you think of me in this blouse?" Candy slipped her toned legs into a pair of jeans and pulled them up. Buttoning them, she turned to face Jack for his appraisal. The blouse was extremely low cut and had sheer side panels.

"Looks good."

"What about mine? My breasts are bigger than Candy's so it's a bit tight", Becca remarked. The cropped top showed her abdomen which was sculpted by countless crunches.

Elizabeth highly doubted that Becca needed anyone to tell her that she looked good. The woman's body was perfection and Elizabeth had a feeling that her roommate looked good in everything.

Except Jack's arms, and that was because Elizabeth would pummel her gorgeous roommate black and blue if she ever found her there.

"Or should I wear my purple one?" Candy spoke up. She looked down at her bosom and contemplated it.

"Blue's my favorite color."

 _Okay, now that's a bit much. He doesn't have to admire it_ , Elizabeth thought with a scowl. _When we get to Earth, we are never having roommates._

 _Except for the baby._

"Blue reminds me of Elizabeth's eyes," Jack said casually. "She's got perfect blue eyes."

And just like that Elizabeth's scowl turned into a smile.

"Everything reminds you of Elizabeth", Becca said with a laugh.

"Can't help it."

Jack shrugged and smiled at Elizabeth.

"I'm ready." Elizabeth set down her hair brush and turned towards Jack.

"Did you tell Jack about your fortune?" Becca asked nonchalantly, but Elizabeth swore the woman gave a humorous look to Candy.

The smile left Elizabeth's face and she turned to glare at Becca.

"What fortune?" Jack asked curiously.

"It's nothing," Elizabeth replied as she grasped his arm. "Let's go. We don't want to be late for the party."

"You thought it was _something_ when you heard it," Becca noted.

"I thought you were going to pass out," Candy added with a chuckle.

"What are they talking about?"

"Nothing. Just a silly fortune telling by Star. Totally silly. Don't worry yourself about it." Elizabeth sent another dirty look at her roommates and moved towards the door, but Jack held back.

"Why would I be worried?"

Becca smiled. "Because Star's never wrong. Her whole family is into fortune telling. Reading palms, checking astronomical signs. Tea leaves. Don't worry, Jack. You'll be able to handle fatherhood. No matter what you face."

"What I face?" a worried Jack asked. "What is she talking about, Elizabeth?"

"Just a silly prediction about our future."

"It's not a prediction. It's foretelling," Candy corrected her.

"Same thing," Elizabeth said dismissively.

"No, it's not", Candy corrected her again. "A prediction is just that. A prediction - what may happen. Foretelling means its actually going to happen. Star doesn't predict. She foretells."

"What did she foretell?" Jack asked. He sat down on a lower berth and waited for a reply.

"That we are going to have a happy family. That's all."

"If that's all, why would I be worried?"

"You wouldn't be. Becca and Candy are just stirring up trouble. Let's go." Elizabeth tugged on Jack's arm but he remained seated.

"We're not the ones stirring up trouble. We had nothing to do with this. This is all you two's doing." Becca giggled. She pulled on a pair of pants, and smoothed her hair away from her face. "You know, Elizabeth, if you and Jack have such a great relationship, I can't imagine why you'd want to keep a secret from him about something this important."

"Are you keeping a secret from me?" Jack's face pulled back in surprise as he looked at his wife.

"No, of course not. Don't be silly."

"He's not being silly, he's interrogating you. Go on, Jack, ask her some more. Use that law enforcement training. Ask her what Star foretold,' Candy encouraged him.

"Stay out of this, Candy," Elizabeth snarled but her roommate merely smiled back at her.

"Was it something about the baby?" Jack asked.

"Which one?" Becca said with a snicker.

Elizabeth threw her a dirty look.

"Which one? We're only having one baby. Doc already checked. We've seen the ultrasound," a confused Jack replied.

Elizabeth sighed in frustration at her roommates before answering Jack.

"Star was just telling me that she saw more children in our future. Eventually. That's all."

Jack's two grandmothers had both firmly believed that some people had the power to foresee the future and Jack, despite knowing that there was no scientific basis, often wondered if some people had the power.

"You always said you wanted two or three," Jack said with a relieved voice that there was nothing wrong with Elizabeth's pregnancy. "I agree. Two or three would be great."

"What about more than that?" Becca asked in a sweetly innocent voice.

""More than three?"

"Uh huh."

"Like four? I guess that would be okay," Jack said after a moment of thinking. "Four would be nice. A lot of work but I suppose there's more to love. Four would okay."

"What about more than that?" Candy asked with a smile.

"More than four? Like five? Wow. That would be a lot. Is that what Star predicted?"

"Foretold, not predicted", Candy corrected him. "Could you handle five children?"

" _Five_? Five children?" a somewhat stunned Jack asked. "Is that what Star said?"

"It's just a silly fortune telling," Elizabeth answered. "Let's get going. We want to get some of that champagne before it's all gone."

"You can't drink alcohol," he reminded her. Suddenly suspicious of her hurry to leave.

"Jack, There's no reason to get upset by what Star said."

"I'm not upset. It's just, well, five children would be a lot of children. You have to admit that, Elizabeth. I'm not sure about us having five children."

"Star's always right", Becca reminded the couple. "She said I would find a cat with just one eye and half a tail last time we were home, and sure enough, I did."

Elizabeth threw a pillow at Becca to get her to shut up.

"Five children?" Jack repeated in a daze. He looked at Elizabeth but she averted his gaze.

Jack looked to Becca and Candy who were both trying not to laugh.

"She did not predict five children, Jack", Elizabeth answered hotly.

"Oh. Okay, that's good," a relieved Jack said. "Good," he repeated with a grateful sigh.

"Keep interrogating her, Jack", Candy said enthusiastically. She ducked when Elizabeth sent a second pillow sailing across the room.

"Not five?"

"No, not five," Elizabeth answered evasively.

"Dear God, _SIX_?!"

"There's no reason to get upset!" Elizabeth wailed. "She just read my palm."

"And your astrological chart when you started to freak out", Becca added.

"And your aura when you were still freaking." Candy chimed in.

Jack stared at Elizabeth with wide eyes. "And they all said we were having SIX children?!"

Elizabeth paused and wrung her hands together. She and Jack loved each other and wanted a family. It just seemed a bit much to digest. Not that she necessarily believed Star, but she had heard of Star's past foretellings which had all been accurate. Even Abigail, who normally didn't believe in such nonsense, had confirmed that Star's fortune telling was accurate.

"Elizabeth?!" a nervous Jack questioned.

"None of them said six children. . . .. . . . . .they all said seven", Elizabeth finally answered weakly.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth led a stunned Jack to the table of food and drink which had been set up in the large lounge on level B. She picked up a plastic cup which was full of bubbly champagne and handed it to him.

"Drink", she ordered.

Jack downed the contents of the cup in one gulp. "Seven", he said weakly.

Elizabeth replaced his empty one with another full one and ordered him to drink again.

"Men", she muttered. "You really are the weaker sex."

 **UP Next: The Landing**


	54. Chapter 54 - The Landing

**CHAPTER 54 – THE LANDING**

Elizabeth assumed that the night's party would be like the farewell party when they had left the ship upon arrival at Coal Valley. That party - over a year and half ago - had been filled with food, champagne, laughter, music, and wild dancing.

And if she remembered correctly, which she did with a smile, it had been the first night that she and Jack had been intimate. They may not be able to repeat that tonight, but she still assumed that the party itself would be similar.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

It had started out fun. The talent show - which had been scheduled for weeks earlier - had been cancelled due to the numerous ship problems, but several people now put on impromptu performances. People laughed and clapped through the acts.

That part of the evening had been jovial.

But by the end of the evening, everyone was in tears.

Crew members whom the passengers had gotten to know for five months - many becoming fast friends with each other - would soon take their short leave and then be back on the next flight somewhere.

Passengers would soon return to their old jobs with new knowledge and insight about how to live on a distant colony planet. Or perhaps they would take their experiences and move on to different career to help make a better Earth.

While playing darts and talking to Bud, Jack had received a message that he had been promoted and had received his requested assignment to Liskow, Canada. Elizabeth, who had taken her biannual education assessment was already on the waiting list for a teaching position there, which was scheduled to open up in a year.

All was right in the universe.

Except everyone seemed to be either crying or on the verge of tears.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Abigail sniffled as she hugged Elizabeth.

"We'll visit often. And you'll come see the baby."

"Of course, I will. But it won't be the same."

"Ms. Thornton," a child's voice called out.

Elizabeth broke away from Abigail's arms and looked down at Tess Thady.

"Thanks for being my teacher," the young girl said.

Next to the girl, stood her six-foot three-inch tall father. He wrapped one of his huge muscular arms around Elizabeth's shoulder and gave her a squeeze.

Elizabeth remembered the first time she had seen Seth. It was twenty-five months ago when she had been arguing with Jack over who would get which bunk. She thought about how she had seen the well-built geologist stripping off his clothes that first day after the men had come back from the gym. How he had been there to help her when she had a nightmare. How he had put up with her and Jack navigating their relationship while he had been missing his own family. She thought about the beautiful geode, packed away for now, that he had given them as a wedding gift. She thought about the close bond which he and Jack had formed. Which they had all formed.

Seth gave her a small smile. "It's been quite an adventure for you these last two years."

Elizabeth's eyes grew more watery. "Thanks for everything, Seth."

"I always knew. I always knew from day one that you and Jack belonged together. I'm not sure when we'll see you again back on Earth, but keep in touch."

It was too much for Elizabeth and she started blubbering as she looked around at the crowd of people.

These people were her family. She had eaten countless meals with them, slept in the same small room with them, visited the same gym and lounge, and spent almost every minute with them.

"Ms. Thornton" another child remarked. "Don't forget to let us all know the baby's name."

"I will," she answered enthusiastically as she looked at the heads of all her students who now were crowding around her for farewell hugs.

And then the First Officer ushered everyone away from the front of the large room and into some folding chairs which the crew had brought out.

Music began quietly playing in the background and the holograms began.

Welcoming messages poured into the room from the flashes of people who appeared. Passengers in the audience began calling out names and gasping in happy astonishment when they recognized family members and friends.

The images spoke of upcoming graduations and new nieces and nephews for passengers to meet. They showed off babies and dogs and new homes.

Everyone shrieked in joy and clapped when the gossamer image of Star's boyfriend proposed to her and said that he'd be waiting for her answer in person tomorrow.

"I wonder if she saw that coming?" Jack asked comically.

And each hologram conveyed the same message. The passengers and crew had been missed. Loved ones would be waiting with welcoming arms.

Elizabeth didn't recognize the people in the messages but she was happy for her fellow passengers who shouted out when they saw a familiar face. And then she herself suddenly saw someone she recognized.

"We miss you, sister!" the image of a pretty red-haired woman shouted out with a smile. "See you tomorrow!"

"That's Julie!"

"And my mom and dad!", Elizabeth added when her parents came into focus and blew her kisses. They told her about the upcoming family picnic and how much everyone was looking forward to seeing her and meeting Jack, causing Elizabeth's eyes to water up again.

The Thatcher family images disappeared and were replaced by people she didn't know.

"That's my cousin, Susie", Jack yelled out when a cute woman appeared and told Jack how much the family was looking forward to his return.

As quickly as she appeared, Susie Thornton was replaced by family and friends of other passengers, but Jack and Elizabeth continued to watch the holograms, enjoying the happiness of everyone else in the room when they recognized people.

"Jack, I love your new in-laws," a woman's voice called out with a smile. Charlotte Thornton was holding the reins of a horse surrounded by other people and more horses. "See you soon! Can't wait to hug you."

"That's my ma! With your parents!" Jack turned to look at Elizabeth in astonishment.

"Our parents know each other!" Elizabeth said in surprise.

"I wonder how that went off?" Jack pondered.

"It looks like they're having a great time," Elizabeth said just before the images of the laughing and waving people disappeared. "They'll all be there tomorrow to greet us."

"That's my friend Linda, and Joyce! There's Angie and Ashley and Cindie!" a giddy Elizabeth exclaimed when five women in front of a school waved to Elizabeth and called out messages about planning a baby shower for her. "They're teachers."

She wiped away a happy tear as her friends disappeared.

More and more hologram images appeared. Faces and voices of people who would soon hold the travelers in a warm embrace.

"Gets them every time. They're crying like babies," the captain said with a chuckle when the last of the hologram images had disappeared and the sentimental music had stopped playing.

* * *

Elizabeth slipped her shoulders into the seat harness, clicked the two shoulder strap buckles into the lap belt, and then clicked the two parts of the lap belt together. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

 _It's going to be okay. In a few minutes, we'll be back on Earth._

After a restless last night in her berth, Elizabeth had visited the infirmary earlier in the day and been given the magnesium sulfate to reduce the likelihood of premature labor.

"Feeling okay?" Jack asked when he saw her moving her hand along her arm and rubbing the area where the IV needle had been.

Elizabeth gave him a reassuring smile. "Fine. Just excited to be going home."

She noticed Jack rubbing his own arm and wincing slightly.

Elizabeth chuckled. "Are you having sympathy pains?"

"Nah, got stung by a honey bee earlier today,' he said as he showed her a small puncture wound.

"Don't forget to tighten your lap belts", the flight attendant reminded the couple as she passed by.

"Sally?" Elizabeth called out, causing the slender woman to stop walking and turn back towards her. "How bad is it going to be?"

The crew member smiled. "Not bad at all. It will get really hot, but don't worry. As long as the heat-shields weren't damaged in the bombardment, we'll be fine."

"Were the heat-shields damaged in the bombardment?!" a wide-eyed Elizabeth interrupted.

Sally shrugged. "Let's hope not."

"Didn't you check?!"

"Not my job, but I'm sure someone did."

A gob-stopped Elizabeth looked at Jack. He didn't seem to be too concerned with Sally's response because he was busily looking at images of homes for sale in Liskow.

"Sally!" Elizabeth called out. "What if they were damaged?!"

"Then we won't have to worry about all the rumbling and shaking that's supposed to come next," Sally said pleasantly. She walked away leaving a stunned Elizabeth more anxious than before.

"Because we'll be dead!" Elizabeth hissed to Jack.

"We won't be dead." He shrugged off her concern and angled his laptop towards her. "What do you think of this one? It's got two fireplaces."

"We'll burn up into fireballs."

"In the fireplaces?" a confused Jack questioned. "Elizabeth, have you ever used a fireplace before? Because we don't actually go _inside_ them ourselves."

"On re-entry! We're going to burn up if the heat shields were damaged!"

Jack looked around the room at the other passengers. "No one else seems concerned."

"Because they're idiots."

"I think most of them are highly educated scientists."

Jack picked up her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Do you remember the first time we sat in these seats? You were so hot for me but didn't want to admit it."

"I was not hot for you" Elizabeth protested with a small laugh. "I didn't even know you."

"You wanted me from the first time you saw me. And then you couldn't stop flirting with me."

"I was not flirting with you."

"First, you shoved your books onto me. Conveniently overpacking so that I would have to talk to you so you could eventually get your books back."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at him. "You were going to talk to me anyway. We were assigned to the same quarters."

"And after you flirtatiously gave me your romance novels, you followed me –"

"I didn't follow you," she interrupted.

"You followed me to the airport café where I was trying to enjoy a moment's peace before the flight."

"I was getting something to eat!"

"You tracked me down at my table –"

"It was the only one with an empty seat!"

"Yet you weren't concerned about sitting and eating. Instead you quickly mentioned that you were available."

"I never said I was available! I said I didn't have a boyfriend, and only because you brought it up."

"You insisted on telling me what a great catch you were," Jack continued as he recalled the first day they had met.

"What a great catch I was?" a shocked Elizabeth asked.

"Sure. You told me how you passed your mental examination, and you passed your physical examination, and you passed your security clearance. And then you mentioned all those eggs you had frozen from your lovely fertile body."

"I was just trying to be friendly!"

Jack chuckled. "And look where that got you. Two years later, you're married to me and pregnant with our first child."

Elizabeth smiled at her husband. "I know what you're doing."

"What am I doing?" Jack asked innocently.

"You're trying to distract me so that I won't worry about re-entry,"

"Is it working?"

"Maybe."

"I could kiss you instead. If you think that might work better. Just a suggestion," he offered with a grin.

"You didn't kiss me the first time we sat in these seats," she reminded him.

"But I wanted to."

And just like that, she felt herself falling under his spell again.

* * *

The thud was a welcome feeling to Elizabeth.

She squeezed Jack's hand and turned to face him with a huge smile on her face as the transporter's wheels moved along the runway.

"Well?" Jack asked.

"Fit as a fiddle," she answered with an even bigger grin. She looked out the small window to her right and saw the horizon she hadn't seen in more than two years. It was a welcome sight.

Jack leaned over and gave her a soft kiss.

"You know something?" he asked.

"What?"

"I'm glad that we were next to each other two years ago. Thank God for the alphabet."

He reached out and placed a palm on one of her cheeks as he looked at her tenderly.

"Are you going to miss space?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nope" he whispered in her ear. "Because when I'm with you, I'm over the moon."

Elizabeth would have laughed at his comment but she was too busy swooning at the combination of his words and his touch.

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 55**

 **Dear Readers: I never intended this story to go past the initial voyage to Coal Valley, but I had so much fun and got such nice reviews that I decided to do the return voyage too. I have an epilogue planned as the next chapter which I will post as soon as I complete it, but after that I think I'll put aside the story for a while. It's been a fun voyage. A reader recommended I call the next segment "Out of Earth" and I have to admit it did get me motivated.** **I still have my Reversal story, where I left Jack and Elizabeth expecting their second child, and I still have my Vignettes under jellybean49 where I also left Jack and Elizabeth expecting their second child! I can't leave them pregnant forever! I also have a crazy idea for a totally unusual story. (Yes, I know all my stories are a bit unusual. :) )**


	55. Chapter 55 -Epilogue

**Epilogue to Part II**

"I'm leaving you," Jack yelled for the third time. He was standing in the doorway which connected the garage to the modest but cute house with white shutters on Mon Amour Street in Liskow, Canada.

The house's window boxes, which had been flowing with cheerful flowers during the summer were now bare, except for a few fallen maple leaves which had come down in the autumn and blown into the containers.

"Did you hear me? I'm leaving!"

 _Thank God_ , Elizabeth thought wearily when she heard Jack's declaration. _It's about time._

"Yes, dear. I know you are. And I will be just fine without you," she called out from one of the upstairs bedrooms. Her voice had a fake cheerfulness to it.

Jack hesitated with his car keys in his hand.

Instead of going to his car, he went back into house and sprinted up the wooden staircase.

"I thought you were leaving?" Elizabeth looked up from the clothes she had been folding on the bed. "Did you forget something?"

"I don't think I should go. I'll just stay home with you."

Elizabeth sighed and lowered her t-shirt in her hands onto the bed.

She had been spoiled by having Jack constantly with her while in space. Once back on Earth, the couple had been thrilled to have found a house just a short commute from Jack's new posting which allowed them to spend plenty of time together. The past four months had flown by as the couple easily navigated married life on their home planet.

Everything had been perfect until this week.

It was three days until her due date and Jack was driving her crazy.

Every ten minutes, he would ask her if she was doing okay. And not just that. He had taken to bringing her water and telling her to stay hydrated. And then watching to make sure she drank it. He spent his time following her from room to room to make sure she hadn't over-exerted herself. He checked her vitamin bottle to make sure she had remembered her daily dosage.

This morning, she had woken up to find him simply staring at her.

"Jack, I love you. You know that, right?"

"Of course I do. And I love you too."

Jack set down his keys, picked up a pair of undershorts from the pile of clean clothes on the mattress, and began folding them.

"Don't take this personally, Jack, but I really need some alone time. I just want to finish the laundry, and maybe take a long shower, do my hair, and relax. I'm probably going to take a long nap. I didn't sleep much last night. You should go. Please. Have fun. They've made snow for the slopes."

It was only early November but it was cold enough in the nearby mountains to allow for the resorts to blow snow and open eight runs. If Jack didn't go snowboarding now, he wouldn't have another opportunity for at least a year. Once the baby came, Elizabeth anticipated she'd want, and need, Jack close by.

"Besides, if I need you, you're only thirty minutes away," she added encouragingly.

"But you might need me sooner than that," he protested as he picked up two socks and rolled them together.

"I'm a grown woman. I can handle a few hours by myself."

"You shouldn't be alone."

"I want to be alone. Really. Between you and my mom, I have been pampered nonstop."

"Do you feel anything? Anything at all?"

 _Just impatience with you_ , she thought disagreeably.

"I feel irritable" she answered tersely but Jack didn't seem fazed.

"That's to be expected. The books say its normal this close to the due date. Because of the extra weight and swelling and everything your body is going through. Did you drink the lemon tea I made for you?"

Elizabeth nodded towards the empty mug on the dresser. "Thank you, Jack," she replied as she tried to control her resentment that he seemed to think he knew as much about pregnancies as she did.

 _Actually, he probably does. He's been reading every book and article he can find._

 _He actually answered the doctor's questions at the last exam better than I did!_

* * *

After Jack finally left - promising to be home in four hours – Elizabeth put away the clean laundry, ate lunch, and tried to read a magazine but she couldn't concentrate.

Tossing the magazine aside, she headed to the bathroom.

She dropped her clothes onto the floor and stared at her naked body in the full-length mirror that was attached to the back of the door. She ran her hand along her belly.

 _Any day now, baby._

Elizabeth reached her hand into the shower, turned the handles, and felt the warm water stream down onto her palm.

Despite being back on Earth for four months, she still hadn't gotten bored with long showers.

The Thornton water bills would have been astronomical due to her showers which averaged twenty minutes -unless Jack was with her when they averaged considerably longer - if it wasn't for the rain collectors Jack had installed on the outside of the house.

She had been in the shower for only two minutes when she felt the water.

Not the water from the shower head.

The water from her body.

At first, Elizabeth tried to convince herself that it really wasn't her body fluids dripping down her legs, but after stepping out of the shower, and then feeling a mild cramp, she couldn't ignore it. She was in labor.

Alone.

Naked.

 _And with no make-up and I'm dripping wet!_ she thought in dismay. _I'm supposed to be beautiful when I go into labor!_

* * *

"You don't send your husband to go skiing-"

"Snowboarding", Elizabeth corrected her mother before grimacing from another contraction.

"You don't send your husband to go snowboarding three days before your due date!" her mother continued to admonish her. "What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking I had _three days_ until my due date."

"Due dates are not exact!"

"Thank you, mother. I'll remember that the next six times I'm in labor," Elizabeth said dryly. She was nervous enough going through labor without Jack. The last thing she needed was her mother harping at her.

After having wrapped a towel around herself in the bathroom, Elizabeth had quickly messaged Jack, Julie, and her mother. In that order.

Which apparently didn't guarantee that they would actually arrive in that order.

Julie had arrived first, screeching into the driveway and honking her mini-transporter's horn. Taking one look at Elizabeth's wet hair, sweat pants, and lack of make-up, she rolled her eyes at her sister's appearance.

"I suppose it's too late now," she said sadly as she ushered Elizabeth into the vehicle. "I'll give you a make-over at the hospital."

Mrs. Thatcher had met her daughters at the hospital an hour later. The impeccably dressed middle-aged woman had immediately decided that Elizabeth's room was inadequate, and insisted that she be moved to a more appropriate space.

By inadequate, Mrs. Thatcher meant it didn't have enough natural light, that it was too far from the nurses' station, and that it was too close to a woman screaming in labor from the next room.

Elizabeth was now settling into the spacious room directly across from one of the nurses' station. She had to admit that with a large window and a view of the mountains it was a nicer place to go through labor and bring their baby into the world.

"Jack will be here as soon as he can. He got my message but there's nothing he can do."

"What kind of husband gets stuck in a cable car while his wife is in labor?" Mrs. Thatcher asked in disgust.

Elizabeth had to admit it did seem highly improbable, but it had happened.

Jack had been riding to the top of the mountain when the lift had stalled half-way up the slope and sixty feet in the air due to a faulty mechanism. While Elizabeth was going through labor in the maternity ward's best room, Jack was suspended over the slopes in a crowded cable car. Trapped with fifteen other skiers and snowboarders.

"I found a spritz bottle in a little store down on the first floor," Julie announced as she waltzed into the room. She immediately went to the sink and filled it with tap water.

"Stop that," Elizabeth frowned as Julie squeezed the bottle's handle and began misting Elizabeth's face. "It's my stomach that's killing me, not my face."

"Don't get mad at me. I'm just trying to keep you cooled down and relaxed until Jack gets here."

* * *

An anxious Jack glanced at his watch as he hurried down the long hospital corridor.

 _Three hours. Damn it! I'm lucky that she didn't have the baby while I was stuck in that stupid cable car!_

It had indeed been three hours since Elizabeth had first messaged him that her water had broken. He glanced at her later messages and found the one she had sent with her room number and an update on her contractions. They were coming much faster than he had expected.

 _Oh man, how could I miss the first three hours!_

When Jack approached the doorway and heard a scream of pain, his pulse quickened even more. He walked inside, took a deep breath, and pushed aside the curtain.

Despite reading book after book on childbirth, he wasn't prepared for the scene in front of him.

The room was so crowded he could barely see the woman lying in the bed. But he could hear her. Even through the oxygen mask that was covering her nose and mouth he could hear her moans.

A nurse was on either side of her holding up her knees. "You're doing just fine, sweetie. Push again," one of the woman said encouragingly.

Jack's feet were frozen to the floor. He suddenly felt petrified. He was going to be a father.

 _How did this happen?!_

Glancing around, his eyes took in the nurses, and the doctor, who sitting in the chair at the end of the bed. The bed's lower third had been removed to allow for an easier delivery. Although, from what Jack could see nothing looked easy about delivering a baby.

To the side of the bed was a fetal monitor, no longer needed now that the time of birth was imminent. An IV bag was hanging from a hook on the side of a metal pole. The beeping of other machines didn't seem to concern the medical staff who were concentrating their attention on the mother-to-be.

"Push again, dear", the nurse instructed.

"You can do it, girl," a brunette woman in a nearby chair called out. Jack had no idea who she was. _Must be one of hospital social workers. They probably sent one since I wasn't around for support. Damn, how could I be late!_

Jack moved forward and looked over the doctor's shoulder. He could see the baby's head crowning.

 _This is disgusting_ , was his first thought.

 _Ugh, there's blood and . .. stuff everywhere,_ was his second thought as he grimaced at the sight of the fluids on the bedsheet.

 _And since when doesn't Elizabeth shave her legs? Man, she's been more tired than I thought._

"You're doing great!" he called out with an attempt at enthusiasm.

When one of the nurses gave him an odd look, he realized that she was probably contemplating what kind of man shows up three hours late for the birth of his first child.

"I got here as soon as I could," he volunteered.

No one seemed too interested in him which was understandable given that the baby's head seemed stuck in the birth canal.

"Take a breath and push really hard," the doctor instructed.

"I can see the head", Jack called out helpfully. _Be supportive, that's what the books all said._

 _Wow, Elizabeth gained more weight than I thought. Her ankles are really fat,_ Jack thought as he tried to avoid looking at the baby's now emerging head.

 _Good thing I bought that jogging stroller for her. Smart move on my part. She can lose the weight quick enough with a couple miles a day._

 _Stop it, Jack. Don't be so critical,_ he chided himself _. She's having our son or daughter._

 _But I honestly don't remember her gaining so much weight. When did that happen? Overnight?!_

"Don't forget to breath, sweetie _,"_ he said with renewed enthusiasm.

His next thought was that the male nurse at the head of the bed was being a little too friendly to Elizabeth.

 _Is it normal for a nurse to kiss a patient on the forehead?_

 _That can't be professional_.

 _I can kind of understand holding her hand, but a kiss?_

 _Ahmm_. Jack cleared his throat to get the man's attention. Now that he was here, Jack didn't need anyone else to comfort his wife. He could handle that part of the delivery just fine by himself.

 _I should be the one by her head,_ Jack decided as he moved across the room. _He's being way too friendly._

The man dressed in scrubs ignored Jack and instead of moving away to give Jack more access to his wife, gave her another kiss and whispered something in her ear.

"What the hell are you doing?" a stunned Jack asked loudly, causing everyone in the room to look in his direction.

"Excuse me?" the man asked. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?!"

"I'm the baby's father," the man responded indignantly.

"The hell you are!" Jack retorted.

* * *

Julie glanced down the hallway at the uniformed man hurriedly entering one of the other birthing rooms from where loud yelling was coming.

"Looks like something interesting going on down there," she reported to Elizabeth, who was sitting up in bed braiding her hair. Julie moved towards the bed and handed her a hair tie. "A lot more interesting that what's going on in this room."

"Hush," Elizabeth snapped back. "It's not my fault my labor stopped. Besides, I'm grateful. This gives Jack more time to get here."

"I thought he messaged that he was in the parking lot. That was over ten minutes ago," Mrs. Thatcher noted.

"He probably stopped by the store to pick her up a gift," Julie offered.

* * *

"You watched another woman giving birth?!" a stunned Elizabeth exclaimed.

Jack had been escorted into her room by a member of the hospital security. The uniformed man wouldn't release Jack's arms until Elizabeth, who had just started getting a manicure from Julie, had vouched for his identity.

"For goodness sakes, couldn't you tell it wasn't me?!"

"She had an oxygen mask on and her hair in one of those surgical hair cover things!" Jack said in his defense. "And there were people all around her!"

"I'm your WIFE!"

Jack raked his hand through his hair as he tried to forget the last fifteen minutes.

"I – I should have realized it wasn't your room when Julie and your mom weren't there. But it was the number you gave me!"

"I changed rooms!"

"How was I supposed to know that?!"

"You're supposed to know what your own wife looks like!"

"I wasn't looking at her face! And there was . . . gross stuff going on!"

Elizabeth scowled in disgust. "Oh, God. You were looking at her –"

"Don't say it," a dejected Jack ordered. "It was awful."

"That bad?" Elizabeth challenged with raised eyebrows. She picked up a nail polish bottle and handed it back to Julie.

"She was moaning, and pushing, and there was . .. stuff. And then I almost got punched by her husband. Everyone was yelling. The security officer thought I was some kind of weird sexual perverted peeping Tom. I don't want to think about it."

Elizabeth looked at her frazzled and miserable-looking husband and her heart melted for him.

"Come here," she said as she tried not to laugh. She held her arms open. "You need a hug."

"I need to be coddled," he pouted.

* * *

Two hours later, Elizabeth grimaced as her stomach tightened. She leaned over and vomited into a small plastic tub which was held for her by a nurse.

After wiping her mouth on a paper towel, Elizabeth took a sip of water from a glass offered by Jack.

"I don't know why no one tells women that they'll vomit in labor. It seems like that would be important to know," Julie remarked from a soft armchair in a corner of the room.

"It's okay. I just feel a bit nauseated."

Jack's eyes lit up and he smiled happily. "Hey, you got it right!"

When the nurse raised her eyebrows at him and gave him a curious look, Jack pleasantly explained.

"She normally gets it wrong. She usually says she feels nauseous."

"Do you really think this is the time for a grammar lesson?" the nurse asked scornfully. "Your wife is in labor."

"It's okay," Elizabeth said with a wave of her hand. "I know what he means. Don't worry, he loves me."

The nurse rolled her eyes and moved to walk out of the room. "Husbands", she said with a sigh. "I'll be back to check on you later. If you need anything, just buzz me."

* * *

Elizabeth shut her eyes as her face tensed in pain when another contraction gripped her.

Julie and Mrs. Thatcher had gone to get some dinner with Mr. Thatcher, who had arrived at the end of the work day, leaving the couple alone for the first time in hours.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I got you pregnant and are making you go through this," Jack told her as he paced the room. "We should never have had sex. We should have just adopted a dog or something. We don't need kids. I'm not even sure I like them," he rambled on nervously. "I have no idea why they have to be so painful to come out. Pandas have it easy. Their cubs are only the size of a stick of butter. I'm sure you'll be a better mother than a panda. . . . Why are we having a kid? Look how painful this is. I'm not sure they're even worth it!"

Elizabeth, who had been hunched over near her bed, took a breath when the contraction ended and stood up straighter. "It's okay, Jack," she said weakly.

"We'll get a cat when we want to add to the family next time. They're even better than dogs. Cats don't need to be fed that often. Just put out a bowl of dry food in the morning and you're done. That's it. No diapers. No baths. Just a bowl of food in the morning," he continued to blather on.

* * *

The morning sun was barely up in the sky but it was already obvious that it was going to be a beautiful morning. Elizabeth smiled for no reason other than life was perfect.

"Hey, you're awake. How you feeling?" Jack asked when he walked into the room and saw that she was sitting up in bed. Her back was propped up with two large white pillows. She looked tired but happy. She had just sent her parents to have breakfast and was glad to have private time with Jack.

She had brushed her hair in an effort to regain some resemblance of being groomed, and had grabbed the nearby jar of Vaseline and run a fingertip of shiny jelly along her lips. She knew Jack wouldn't expect her to look totally put together, but she wanted to look good for him.

Now that he was here, she smiled even more.

Despite his anxiety during the first hours of labor, Jack had been wonderful as it got closer to the baby's birth. The more nervous Elizabeth had become, the calmer Jack had become. When she felt weak, he became strong. When she needed something, he had provided it.

He hadn't been disgusted by the mess, or bothered by Elizabeth's quiet moans, or turned off by her tired frustration. He didn't care how she looked.

He had fed her ice chips, and made her laugh, and encouraged her. He had rubbed her back and told her how much he loved her.

He had even asked if he could cut the umbilical cord, and after deftly snipping it in half, he had placed the slippery naked baby on Elizabeth's chest.

 _He really is the most wonderful man in the world. In the universe,_ she thought as she now looked at him.

Jack's normally neat hair was slightly messed up as if he had been in a hurry to get back to the hospital after being gone for two hours.

Elizabeth noticed that he had nicks on his face from shaving. It made her smile because she knew he had probably been slightly nervous about . . .well . . . .about the rest of their lives. Exhilarated but still a bit nervous.

"Good. A little tired and sore, but pretty good," Elizabeth responded to his question. "Are those for me?" she asked happily.

Jack set down an overnight bag on a nearby chair and then carried a huge bouquet of green stems with bright yellow flowerheads over to the bed.

"They are. And your parents think I'm a cheap husband. I saw them in the hallway," he replied with a chuckle. "I think they're worried about what kind of man you married."

Jack leaned down and gave her a tender kiss.

"I love them", she said honestly when his lips left her and she gazed at the dandelions.

She suddenly looked confused. "From our yard? In November?"

"I've been growing them in the greenhouse. As a surprise."

Elizabeth's faced glowed at his gesture. _And all the time, I thought he was just in the greenhouse to avoid me. Or have a beer._

"Some lady walking by told me I should use a weed killer to get rid of them, but I told her I'm growing them on purpose. Now she thinks I'm a nut-case. She's probably wondering what kind of strange people have moved into the neighborhood. It doesn't help that after four months, I still keep looking around at everything and exclaiming how big and beautiful the world is.

Elizabeth handed the bouquet back to Jack who held them with one hand and picked up a pitcher with the other. He filled the container with tap water and stuck the weeds inside, moving them around into a full arrangement, and then placed the pitcher back on the nightstand.

"How's the little one?" Jack asked.

He leaned over the bassinet and stared at the baby who was starting to wake up. Jack's face broke out in a large grin. "We made the perfect baby," he announced in awe.

Elizabeth smiled. "We did. But our perfect baby needs the perfect name."

"I think we can rule out Halley and Cassiopeia", she added with a smile.

Jack chuckled. "I agree."

Jack reached into the bassinet and picked up the infant. He gently cradled the newest member of the Thornton family in his arms and sat on the edge of mattress next to Elizabeth.

"Well, little one, what should we call you?" he softly asked. "You're six hours old and still don't have a name. A handsome strong boy like you needs a name."

"Where's that list from the transporter?"

Careful not to upset the baby by jiggling him, Jack pulled a worn piece of paper from his pocket. It had crossed-out names, circled names, erased names, and underlined names. The ship's travelers had spent five months offering suggestions but Elizabeth and Jack knew that until the baby was born, his or her name would have to wait. They would only know the right name when they saw their child.

Jack's eyes scanned the paper and he began to read some of the names.

"Cerci?"

"Nope, sounds too much like cerclage."

"Definitely not that", Jack replied hurriedly and continued to look at the list. "How about Brian?"

"Ugh," Elizabeth replied. "Something about that name just leaves a bad taste in my mouth".

"Yeah, me too," Jack said with a grimace. "I definitely don't like Brian. How about Paul?"

"Absolutely not. That's the transporter doctor's first name. Yuck. It's almost as bad as Brian. No way."

"Someone suggested Newton."

"Like Fig Newtons? The cookies?"

"I think more like Sir Isaac Newton because of the whole gravity thing."

"That makes more sense," Elizabeth agreed with a chuckle. "But still no."

"Someone else suggested Nicholas. After Nicholas Copernicus, I'm guessing."

"Could be after St. Nick, you know Santa Claus."

"Possibly. It looks like it was written in crayon" Jack said as he looked at the paper. "One of your students must have written it."

"What else do we have?"

"Galileo, Hawkins, Einstein, Pluto."

"I am not naming our son Pluto!"

"Seems like we have a bit of a theme going on here. Scientists aren't exactly the most imaginative."

"Isn't there anything we like?"

"I was thinking Hubris," Jack said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Hubris?" Elizabeth repeated in disgust.

"You know, you had all that hubris when we first met. It's what made you think you could make it at a far-away colony by yourself."

Elizabeth pulled a pillow out from behind her back and smacked Jack on the back.

"Hey, careful!" he protested as he laughed. "You could have hurt little Huby."

"We are NOT naming our son Hubris!"

"We could name him Omelet. After your eggs," Jack laughed.

"If you ever want a chance with another one of my eggs, you'll come up with a better name," Elizabeth threatened him.

Jack was still smiling as he moved his face towards her. When his lips brushed against hers, she enjoyed his taste. Like fresh spearmint. Only better. She would never get tired of his kisses. When he whispered he loved her, she whispered it back, and she knew it would always be true.

The baby's movement caused Jack and Elizabeth to separate slightly and they both looked down at him.

"He's perfect. He even yawns perfectly," Elizabeth said proudly. "He needs the perfect name."

"How about Aaron? There have been some great astrophysicists and astronauts named Aaron but it's not too space-related."

"In ancient stories, Aaron was a peacemaker. I like it. What else do you have?"

Elizabeth took the paper from Jack. "I like Daniel too. There have been some great planetary geologists named Daniel. And Daniel's a name associated with someone who does good deeds."

"They're both classic names. One can be the first and one the middle name."

Jack gazed at his son's face and moved even closer to Elizabeth.

"Aaron and Daniel. Dan and Aaron," she repeated. "You know, there's just something about those two names. They just seem to go together. Almost like they belong together.

"I know what you mean. When you say them aloud, they do sound like they belong together."

"Welcome to Earth, Aaron Daniel Thornton," Jack said quietly just before softly kissing his son on the forehead. "We're your parents."

Thousands of miles above Earth, the stars were aligned. But Jack and Elizabeth didn't need a telescope to know that.

They didn't need to see astrological bodies to know that their futures were blessed.

Years from now when their children asked how they had fallen in love, Jack and Elizabeth would point to the night sky and tell them this story.

 **Dear Readers: Thanks for following, favoriting, and reviewing my story. I hope it made you laugh and smile at times. There's more to come**


	56. Chapter 56 - Part III

**CHAPTER 56 - Part III**

From the outside, the modest but cute house with white shutters on Mon Amour Street in Liskow, Canada looked peaceful and cozy. Clouds of smoke from the kitchen fireplace- a unique and old-fashioned amenity that the family found charming – spewed from the brick chimney and mingled with the day's crisp air.

Jack pulled up the collar on his coat to keep out the cold and slowed his pace.

On any given day, he loved walking in the front door – or even the back door – or even the garage door. He wouldn't have cared if he had to climb in a window to get into the house. He loved coming home. He loved Elizabeth and their six-month old son, Aaron Daniel. He loved his job as an officer with the North American Defense Force. He loved the dandelions and vegetables which they were growing in the small greenhouse on their property. He loved his life. Usually.

But today . . .

….for the first time since they had moved into their house ten months earlier, Jack wasn't looking forward to coming home.

He needed time to think.

When he got to the intersection of Mon Amour Street and Maple Avenue, Jack should have turned right, walked past five houses, and then walked up the driveway to the house with the metal name-plate that clearly read "The Thorntons".

Instead, he turned left.

* * *

To most people, the cold snap in the weather was annoying. To Elizabeth, it was another chance to snuggle at home in her woolen slippers, sip tea, and enjoy the school holiday. She loved her house with its soft thick couch cushions, creaky wooden floors, and two large bay windows with built-in seats. She loved living in LIskow, with its suburban feel but close proximity to city-life. She loved her life. Always.

She moved about the kitchen, shifting back and forth between setting the kitchen table, placing kisses on her son, and talking to her sister Julie.

"Stop moving so much. I can't see you and it makes talking to you about my love life more difficult," Julie reprimanded Elizabeth from her position hovering in the doorway of the kitchen.

"I have things to do. And we've been talking about your love life for twenty minutes," Elizabeth replied to the hologram over her shoulder as she chose to ignore Julie's disagreeable huff.

"I just want a relationship like you and Jack have. It's perfect."

"It's perfect because we're honest with each other."

"I am being honest with Bob," Julie defended herself. "I told him that I was also seeing Phil."

"Jack and I also respect each other's feelings. Maybe you should try respecting Bob's feelings."

"I respect Bob's feelings! .. . I think." Julie hesitated as she thought about the teacher that she had been dating for the past three months.

"I'm actually not sure how he feels," she continued. "He seemed okay with me seeing Phil. Except then he cancelled our dinner plans. He said he had to go to Toronto on business but he doesn't have business in Toronto. He's a fifth grade teacher! think maybe he was lying to me."

"You think?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief. Of course, Bob was lying to Julie. She had just told him that she was dating another man the same week he was thinking about taking her home to meet his parents for the first time.

"How am I supposed to know how he feels?" Julie whined.

"If you care deeply for someone, you just know. And if you don't, you ask. Jack and I just know. We know each other so well, we are in-tune with each other's feelings. We even know what the other person is usually going to say," Elizabeth remarked. "We can practically read each other's minds."

"Stop bragging."

"I'm not bragging,"

Elizabeth leaned over the cooing baby in the play pen and gave him another kiss. Jack had once told her that she kissed their son so often that the boy was going to have imprints of Elizabeth's lips on his soft baby skin, but she didn't care. He really was the cutest baby she had ever seen.

"Jack and I love each other. That's all," she added. "We're soul mates. Kindred spirits."

"Fine. You go ahead and ignore me – your favorite sister. And get back to your perfect life. By the way, you have baby spit-up on your shoulder," Julie told her before her hologram disappeared.

* * *

Elizabeth was buttoning up a fresh shirt when she heard the front door open. She threw her tee-shirt with the dried milk stain on the shoulder into the pile of laundry, and hurried out of the bedroom.

"You're late," she greeted Jack with a smile. "I thought you were getting a ride home."

"I decided to walk part of the way."

"You must have gotten off late too because it's not that long a walk," Elizabeth smiled.

She reached up and pressed her lips to one of Jack's cheeks.

"Ooh. Chilly," she noted when she felt his skin's coolness.

"How's our Acorn?" Jack asked as he affectionately referred to his son. He slipped off his coat and tossed it on the coat rack before moving over towards the playpen.

Six months earlier, in the hospital maternity ward, a beaming Jack and Elizabeth had correctly informed the hospital staff of their son's name. Aaron Daniel Thornton.

From there, his name had been entered into Earth's database and the small boy had been assigned his Earth Citizen Number. After having thoughtfully chosen their son's name, Elizabeth was annoyed that the newsfeed had shortened his name to a simple "A. Thorn" in an effort to have it fit into the prescribed number of characters for the maternity announcement. If her mother hadn't insisted on a long write-up, to include that the child was the world's first child conceived and in utero in space for five months, and if her father hadn't insisted that the family's prominence be included in the announcement, the baby's full name would have fit.

Elizabeth's hurriedly-typed message of complaint to her extended family about the abbreviated name had been sent out before she noticed that "A. Thorn" had been auto-corrected to Acorn. Within seconds, it was too late to go back. Her adorable son, Aaron Daniel Thornton, was henceforth called by his accidental nickname, Acorn.

"He's fine," Elizabeth now answered Jack. "We had a busy day. Mother stopped by with some new baby clothes for him. I had that interview with European Science and Maternity magazine, he had his six-month doctor's check-up, and Abigail gave us a new recipe for oyster stew with broccoli croquettes."

"How'd his check-up go?"

Jack, after giving his son a quick kiss, took a mug from one of the kitchen cupboards and poured himself a cup of hot tea while he glanced at the fireplace to make sure it had enough wood.

"Excellent. He's met every milestone early. Do you want to change before dinner? We're having spaghetti."

Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. "I thought we were having oyster stew with broccoli something or other."

"Yeah, that didn't work out," Elizabeth said dismissively. She shrugged as she stirred the pasta sauce she had taken out of a jar. "We tried."

* * *

"You've barely eaten anything," Elizabeth noted casually as she picked up another forkful of long thin noodles.

She had been so busy telling Jack about her day that she hadn't realized until now that she had been doing all the talking and all the eating.

"Yeah – I guess I'm not that hungry."

"Work okay?"

"Fine. The usual. . . . I had a meeting with the Commander." Jack tried to act nonchalant as he added the last part but Elizabeth barely paid attention to him.

"That's nice. So, the article should come out in another month. It's mostly scientific so it won't be that interesting. Although they asked way too many personal questions. Like how often we were intimate before I got pregnant. Can you believe that? I didn't think it was any of their business, but I guess they're doctors so they care about stuff like that."

"Yeah, doctors," Jack said absently.

"I mean who cares how we got pregnant? It's not like it's going to happen to other space travelers on a deep space colony. Want another piece of garlic bread?"

Jack shook his head. "So, I had this meeting with the Commander –"

"Grab the spoon from him, would you?" Elizabeth interrupted and motioned towards the baby who had picked up a metal spoon and was trying to see if it would fit in his ear.

Jack exhaled. "Elizabeth, we need to talk."

"We've been talking." She gave him a puzzled look.

"About work. My job."

"Did you get off next Saturday? Because it's my mom's birthday and we've got that party."

Elizabeth didn't wait for a response but instead focused on their son, who had started sucking on his tiny fist trying to get milk to miraculously come out of it. She unbuttoned her blouse, lifted the boy out of his seat, and cradled him to her chest.

As she watched her son nurse, a content and smiling Elizabeth didn't notice the frown on Jack's face or that he hadn't bothered to reply but had instead gotten out of his chair to re-fill his glass of water.

* * *

"He's down for a few hours," Elizabeth remarked as she walked into the bedroom. She began to undress as she glanced over at Jack.

The evening hours had been spent doing chores that never seemed to get done and then talking to her mother for thirty minutes about her upcoming party.

Jack, his back propped against some pillows, was already in bed waiting for her. He watched her as she tossed her clothes onto the pile of dirty clothes.

"You know, you really don't need all those clothes. Do you? It just makes for more work."

After two years of wearing mostly transporter uniforms and a few simple outfits, Elizabeth had gone slightly overboard when she got back to Earth and had indulged herself in sweaters, jeans, blouses, tee-shirts, and dresses in a variety of fabrics and colors. She enjoyed having the option of changing clothes whenever she wanted but wasn't thrilled with having to do laundry. Besides, her figure had changed considerably in the last year.

"I don't _need_ them. But I like them," she answered with a smile.

"But you would be fine without them. Wouldn't you?"

"I thought you like the way I dress."

"I do. I just wonder if having so many clothes isn't more of a hassle."

Elizabeth pulled a pair of flannel pajamas from one of her dresser drawers and spoke jokingly over her shoulder. "You're not trying to tell me that we're going broke are you?"

"No. Of course not."

"I'm taking up too much space in the closet, aren't I? It bothers you?" she said somewhat guiltily. "I'll try and squish more onto my side."

"No, it's fine."

"I know. I should have done laundry," she guessed at why Jack was concerned. "I'll get it tomorrow. The pile's getting pretty big."

"It's okay. I was just wondering."

"About my clothes?"

Jack didn't answer but kept thinking about how many clothes Elizabeth had accumulated. Not just her clothes, but wedding gifts, baby clothes, baby toys, household appliances. Stuff.

A lot of stuff.

"Jack? Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, you're right. I do like you best naked," he responded as he realized she had been talking to him as she slipped on her pajama bottoms

"So, Elizabeth. Remember that corporal that took over for me in Coal Valley?"

Elizabeth slipped into her pajama shirt which was light blue in color and covered in a pattern of little white polar bears that matched one of the baby's sleep outfits. She had bought another matching set for Jack but he had managed to avoid wearing it so far.

"Vaguely. Why? What's up?" she replied.

"He needs to come back to Earth. A family matter. They're getting him on the next transporter home."

"Wow. He hasn't even been there a year. I guess they need to send a replacement."

"Yeah. Someone who's experienced. Been there before. Knows the routine."

"Did they ask you for any recommendations?" she asked as she closed the last button. "Because they should know that you were there longer than anyone."

An uneasy Jack wondered why Elizabeth hadn't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation.

He also wondered how long she might cry when she did grasp it.

Two minutes? Five minutes?

Nah, probably three weeks, he estimated.

He cleared his throat as he watched her unbraid her hair. "It was a good assignment, wasn't it? Not so bad. We had a good time there."

"We did."

"Lots of closeness for a young family," he noted in an attempt to be optimistic and casual.

"I'm sure whoever is sent will appreciate it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Elizabeth noted. "I'm just going to check on Aaron Daniel one more time before bed."

"Twice in a life-time experience," Jack muttered as Elizabeth left the room.

 **Up Next: Chapter 57. Going Ballistic**

 **Dear Readers: I never expected to continue this story but a new idea came to mind, and like a rocket ship, it took off. :)**


	57. Chapter 57- Going ballistic

**CHAPTER 57 – GOING BALLISTIC**

Elizabeth was already across the hallway and walking through the doorway to the baby's room when she stopped abruptly.

Her eyes widened but she didn't even notice the adorably cute animal motif which she and Jack had painted on the walls for their son, or the stuffed animals that lined the bookcase.

Every one of her senses was brutally forced onto heightened alert as Jack's actions and words came back pounding at her mind. Pelting her like a hailstorm until she made sense of it. Until she solved the clues that had been right in front of her when she hadn't even realized Jack was trying to tell her something important.

 _He was late coming home from work._

 _His lack of appetite at dinner. Because he was pre-occupied!_

" _I had this meeting with the Commander."_

" _We need to talk."_

 _His suggestion that she could live with fewer clothes._

 _The need for a replacement in Coal Valley._

" _Someone who's experienced. Been there before. Knows the routine."_

" _It was a good assignment. Loss of closeness for a young family."_

She whipped her head around and went back to the doorway of their bedroom.

"No?" she questioned in disbelief as she stared at Jack.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly and gave her a guilty look.

"No," she said warningly.

"Elizabeth –"

No. No. No. NO. NO. NO. NO! NO! **NOOOOO!** "

* * *

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth was no longer hyperventilating, but Jack was still concerned.

She had paced the floor.

Thrown up her hands in exasperation.

Threatened to march over to the Commander's house to confront the man.

Interrogated Jack repeatedly for a verbatim account of exactly what had happened at work.

And asked him to quit his job and become a stay-at-home dad.

"It won't be so bad," Jack repeated for the third time in an effort to soothe her. "We liked Coal Valley. And it's not forever. Four months there. A sixteen-month stay. And then four months back."

"That's TWO YEARS!"

"Two years is not that long a time."

"Two years away from our families!"

"Families are over-rated. You just said the other day that Julie and your mom were driving you crazy. And half the time you can't stand Viola."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Jack before spitting out her next words.

"Two years away from stores and restaurants and concerts and plays!"

"Think of all the money we'll save. And we haven't been to a concert or play since we've lived here."

"Aaron Daniel will be almost three by the time we get back to Earth!" Elizabeth wailed.

"In twenty-four months, he'll be almost three regardless of whether it's here on Earth or in Coal Valley. Time doesn't change."

"You know what I mean," she growled. "He'll grow up and be walking and talking and never have even been on a pony or to the beach or even seen a real sunset!"

"Okay, let's be realistic. We were not going to have him on a pony before he's three. We don't live near a beach anyway. And I doubt he cares about sunsets. So, unless you were planning on some elaborate pony ride on a beach at sunset that you forgot to tell me about, I think we're okay. And he'll be three when we get back. Not thirty."

Elizabeth threw Jack a nasty glare and went back to pacing.

"You liked it there," he reminded her. "You cried when we said goodbye."

"Because I'm sentimental and thought I'd never be back. That doesn't mean I actually _wanted_ to go back! Especially not this soon!"

"It will be two great years," Jack said encouragingly. "We can even show Aaron where he was conceived. Won't that be great? We never thought we'd do that."

"If we go back there, Aaron might just be an only child. You ever thought of that?"

Jack crinkled his eyebrows in confusion and then dismissively waived his hand. "Nah, it will be fine. There were no adverse effect on your health or his. We'll be able to -," he stopped in mid-sentence when he realized he had missed her point. "Oh, 'cuz you'll never have sex with me again. That's what you meant."

"Exactly," she said coldly.

Jack temporarily ignored the disturbing thought and tried another tactic. "Come on, think of how nice it will be living in a small colony again."

"WE OWN A HOUSE. WITH A MORTGAGE! HERE! ON EARTH!"

Jack cringed at her bellowing. "I've thought of that. Just listen. Julie has been wanting some independence from your folks but she's too unmotivated to actually become an adult. This will be perfect. She can move in here. Pay us rent. Grow up a little while keeping this place lived in."

If he had been hoping for Elizabeth to smile and thank him for coming up with such a wonderful solution, he had been delusional.

She fixed her steely eyes on him.

"I am going to go sit in the living room on the soft couch that we bought for our home. I am going to wrap myself in my thick heavy faux fur blanket and forget everything you have said. I am going to pretend that you did not just tell me that we are going back to a sterile colony thousands and thousands of miles away from our families. And you are not going to bother me. I repeat. You are not going to bother me."

A chastised Jack watched as she stormed out of the room.

* * *

Two minutes later, Jack ignored Elizabeth's order to not bother her, walked into the living room, lifted up a portion of the blanket, and sunk down in the seat cushion next to Elizabeth.

She remained motionless and tried to pretend that the man she loved wasn't looking at her with pleading eyes.

She actually tried to pretend he wasn't even there and that she had simply imagined the whole evening but that wasn't working out too well. Especially because he had a lingering scent of the cologne that she had him put on that morning. _Darn, he's wearing the sexy stuff._

"I love you."

"Yeah. Yeah," she replied glumly.

"I know it's not ideal for us."

"Ideal? Do you even know what that words means? Because this is not even close to not being ideal."

"I'm sorry that you'll have to give up your job." As he spoke, he looked at the side of her face because she still refused to look at him despite the fact that he was sitting next to her with their thighs touching.

"The job I _just_ started," she reminded him icily.

"But it's great for my career. I get a promotion."

"Goodie for you."

Jack cringed when he realized bragging about his promotion probably wasn't the best thing to say to his wife who was giving up the job she had just started after her maternity leave had recently ended.

"It will get us more family points," Jack reminded her as he tried another tactic.

It was true that another tour of duty in Coal Valley would earn them significant points towards family planning as set out by the World Committee to control Earth's population. But with Jack's level Two rating from his work in law enforcement, Elizabeth's Level Three rating from her work as a teacher, and their past trip to Coal Valley, they already had enough points to legally have several children.

"Were you planning on us having a _few_ _dozen_ children?" she snarked.

"I'd like a few dozen with you," he said meekly. He had learned early on in their marriage that sometimes it was best just to take the position of lowly loving husband who worshiped her.

She turned and gave him a look of disgust. "For Pete's sake, there's no need to go overboard."

Jack was happy just to get a response from her.

Now that she was looking at him, things would be fine. Exasperated look of disgust or not, she was looking at him. And that meant everything was going to be okay. He knew it.

And she knew it too.

A defeated Elizabeth leaned her head against his shoulder and allowed him to wrap an arm around her. "So, we're going back to Coal Valley," she said in resignation.

"Yep. Looks that way."

The pair sat silently as the seconds passed.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Elizabeth didn't move. Didn't speak.

"I can't go without you," Jack told her appreciatively. "You're my life. You and the baby."

"Ubi tu, ibi ego," she mumbled.

Jack frowned and for a moment wondered if the trauma of being told they were moving had caused Elizabeth to have a stroke.

"Did you say something?"

"Ubi tu, ibi ego."

"That's what I thought you said."

Elizabeth pulled back slightly, straightened her hair, and shook the dismay from her mind. "It's Latin. From Roman wedding vows."

"Ubi tu, ibi ego. . . . . . . Where you are, there am I!" Jack announced with relief after mentally translating from what he remembered of his high-school Latin class.

His wife speaking Latin words of love and devotion was much better than stroke-induced mumbling.

Elizabeth nodded.

"I guess I can give most of my clothes to Julie. And she can take care of the house for us. The school can find a replacement easy enough. It's a great job. They'll be no shortage of teachers applying for it."

"I'm sorry. When we get back, I'll have my choice of assignments. It will be _your_ choice. Wherever you want to go, we'll go. Toronto, Saskatchewan, Montreal, New York, Montana. Wherever you want. Then it will be my turn to ubi tu, ibi ego", he added with a smile.

He kissed her lightly on her head, letting his lips linger in her hair as he appreciated the closeness. "I love you," he whispered. "You're my soul mate."

"I love you too."

"You're going to have sex with me again, aren't you?" he asked with just a hint of worry.

"Eventually."

Elizabeth snuggled closer and thought about all the things she'd have to do before they moved.

"When do we leave?" she asked.

"The first."

"The first of what?" she sighed.

"The first of the month."

Elizabeth felt her heart start to beat quicker in renewed anxiety. "The first of _what_ month?!"

Jack cringed. "Next month," he replied meekly.

"That's in THREE DAYS!"

 **Dear Readers:**

 **THANKS for all your reviews! I loved receiving them.**

 **Some of you have asked about my other stories (Reversal, Jack's not going anywhere, and my Vignettes), I do have plans to continue those stories and have ideas brewing in my head for the next chapters/themes.**


	58. Chapter 58 Doctor, Doctor

**CHAPTER 58 – DOCTOR DOCTOR**

Elizabeth, her hair flying about messily, raced towards the elevator as she tried not to bounce her son who was gleefully gurgling from the carrier strapped to her chest.

"Thanks!" she panted as she squeezed past the half-opened door and came to a halt.

The man standing next to her removed his hand from the door, allowing it to close. "No problem. What floor?"

"Four. Thanks."

Elizabeth realized she was sweating but there was nothing she could do about that. She just hoped her deodorant was holding up. She gently pushed past an old lady and a teenager girl to get to the back of the crowded elevator so she could lean against the wall.

She had been running errands all day in anticipation of the family's flight to Coal Valley. The list on her virtual pad had nine things crossed off, but there were still several more places she had to be and time was limited. She had met with the school principal and superintendent and resigned, left a message for her friend Abigail, called her family – which had been a dramatic ordeal as her mom had suggested that Elizabeth simply get a divorce and stay on Earth, made a file for Julie with important information about the house, and bargained with a less than scrupulous used mini-transporter dealer about selling their vehicle.

Elizabeth wanted a minute to relax. Even if it was just in an elevator.

"Gross!" the girl with the headphones in her ears exclaimed as baby Aaron, having been jostled for the past few minutes, spit up his breakfast with a formidable amount of energy. The fifteen-year old pulled the musical wires from her ears and looked at the creamy white liquid now running down her shirt.

"I'm so sorry!" an embarrassed Elizabeth exclaimed. "It's just my breast milk."

"Gross!" the girl repeated as she gave Elizabeth a look of disgust. "That's nasty. I just bought this shirt."

"A little bit of soap and water should get it out!" Elizabeth hurriedly said as she eagerly dashed out the doors when they opened on the fourth floor.

* * *

The reception room was painted in beige, furnished with beige couches, and decorated with beige lamps. Posters reminding visitors to frequently wash their hands and to maintain their vaccinations competed with a few boring photographs hanging on the walls.

Elizabeth quickly moved to the desk occupied by a moustached man, handed him her scanner, and took the opportunity to breathe while he looked up her information and checked her in for the appointment she had miraculously managed to get scheduled.

"Your son needs one too."

"He just had his six-month check-up yesterday," Elizabeth pleasantly explained when the receptionist told her that Aaron would need a physical before he was cleared for the flight to Coal Valley.

"That was his six-month check-up. He needs a deep space travel physical." The man typed into his computer and then looked expectantly at Elizabeth.

"How is that any different?"

"One is for six-month-olds and the other is for people going to deep space," the man answered in a bored voice while he wondered how stupid Elizabeth was.

"I know they have different names but why can't you just use the six-month physical? His health hasn't changed in the last twenty-four hours."

"They have different forms."

"So you can just copy the information from one onto the other," Elizabeth noted in an overly pleasant voice but gave the man a stern "teacher" look which she usually reserved for dealing with contrary students. It always worked on them, and she reasoned this man behind the counter would likewise succumb to her wants. _He'll probably even thank me for pointing out the obvious._

"Nope. Doesn't work that way."

"Then _I_ can copy the information from one onto the other."

"You a doctor?"

"No, I'm not a doctor!" she replied hotly.

"Then your baby needs another physical."

"Because of different forms?" That's it?! You're going to make him have another physical twenty-four hours after his last one just because the form is different?!" Elizabeth erupted.

The bored man remained unfazed. "They've also have some lab work, and a GAT, GFRT, and MEV."

"I don't have time for this! And I don't even have a clue what all those letters mean!"

"You want your son to go with you into space?" the man asked with a shrug. "It's up to you."

"Of course I want my son to go with us!"

"Then he needs a deep space travel physical."

"Fine," Elizabeth said in defeat as she moved a few inches to the side to allow a woman to scan the in-take roster while she continued to talk to the receptionist. "Can you do it today?"

"Normally we book them out at least about seven months. You really should have made the appointments sooner."

"He wasn't even BORN SEVEN MONTHS AGO!"

The man let out a sigh. "Let me see what I can do."

Elizabeth watched intently as the man pecked the keys on his computer.

"You're lucky," he said as he looked up from the screen. "We had a cancellation. We can fit him in at 1600 hours. Your appointment should be done by then, just go down two levels to the pediatrician's office."

"Two levels to the pediatrician's office for four o'clock appointment. Got it."

"Excuse me, ma'am", a female voice spoke next to Elizabeth. "Your baby won't let go of my hair. And it hurts. Can you control him?"

* * *

Elizabeth looked at the clock on the wall. Four o'clock.

Time for Aaron's totally unnecessary appointment, she thought. She imagined that it would go even easier than hers had considering that he had been in perfect health yesterday. _What a waste of time._

She just hoped her little boy wouldn't cry too much if they took a blood sample.

"The pediatrician is going on the next transporter flight to coal valley. So if your son passes the physical, he'll have the same doctor with him for the next two years," a curly red-haired receptionist pleasantly informed her.

Elizabeth loved her son's normal pediatrician, a woman in her sixties who had five grandchildren – one of whom was a student in Elizabeth's class. Nevertheless, if they had to leave Liskow, at least it would be nice for Aaron to have the same medical provider for the entire journey and time in Coal Valley.

"You can go back now," the cheerful receptionist added with a nod down the hall. "Room E6."

"Thanks. My husband is supposed to be meeting me here. Can you send him in? He's going to take the baby after his physical so I can run some more errands."

As Elizabeth made her way down the hallway, a nurse passing her going in the opposite direction bent down and, like an experienced pro at retrieving baby-dropped items, picked up Aaron's pacifier which he had thrown to the floor. She smiled at Elizabeth and wordlessly handed her the silicone soother before she then continued on her way.

* * *

"Who was that?" the nurse asked the receptionist when she set her laptop on the counter and reached for a bottle of water. "I thought the doctor was finished for the day."

"Some woman and her kid going to deep space. It's her second time but the kid's first. I don't think we've ever had one that young going to a colony."

"Did you tell her that the doctor's going on the next transporter?"

"I did. I forget to mention that he's a twin. She may have even met his brother on one of her other flights."

* * *

Elizabeth tapped her foot impatiently on the tile floor and gently bounced Aaron on her lap as she waited for her son's new pediatrician.

 _I hope he's friendly. And good with children. Of course, he'll be good with children -he's a pediatrician. I hope we have the same parenting style and he agrees that babies shouldn't cry themselves to sleep._

When the door opened, she planted a smile on her face in anticipation of meeting the doctor she'd be dealing with for the next twenty-four months.

"Doc?!"

"Yes. I'm the doctor," the man in the white coat replied, although he thought it would be obvious that he was the doctor given the white coat he was wearing and stethoscope around his neck.

"Wow. This is a surprise," Elizabeth exclaimed when she recognized the middle-aged man with graying hair from her past two transporter flights.

The man's stern face didn't look any friendlier at her announcement. Instead, he looked . . . .puzzled.

"It's me. Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton!"

"Um. Sorry. I don't think we've met. Have I treated your child before?"

"It's me! Elizabeth!" she exclaimed in surprise that he didn't recognize her. _All I did was change my hair a little since we were on the transporter. And had a baby. Do I look that different from when I was in space? Darn, I'm probably a little flabbier. He'll criticize me for eating too many chocolate croissants._

"I'm sorry. I have a lot of patients. Although, I usually remember all the children," the man responded in slight confusion.

" _I_ was your patient. Elizabeth _._ Don't you remember?"

"Ma'am, I'm a pedestrian, not an OBGYN. And I think you've had your baby already." He nodded to Aaron Daniel.

An undeterred Elizabeth continued. "The sucky shoes. Lead apron. Horrible diet. You must remember me! You gave me sucky shoes!"

The doctor reviewed his computer screen and then looked around the room as if hoping there was a nurse or security guard nearby to come to his rescue.

"Perhaps you want a doctor in another office," he offered. He cleared his throat before hesitantly adding, "the mental health offices are one floor up."

"You were my doctor!"

"I deal with children, and I don't mean to be rude, but it looks like it's been several years since you've been a child," he said critically as he assessed her.

 _I'm not that old. He makes me sound like a senior citizen! Why am I not surprised? He was always rude._

"I don't think I was ever your doctor," the man continued. "You must have me confused with someone else."

 _He must have dementia!_ _How can he forget when the pallet of rocks fell on Jack? Or when that horrible Union Jack woman poisoned me when she was trying to destroy the transporter? Or when he gave me ultrasounds when I was pregnant on the flight home?!_

"You must remember me. You found me crying in a corridor after I found out my husband wasn't going to die. You said I had a blob in me. I ate the poisoned apple and was calling out for the seven dwarfs," she earnestly told him as she tried to jog his memory.

"Do you think you're Snow White?" the doctor asked hesitantly and wondered if he should push the panic button near the door.

"It's me! And this is little Acorn – you thought he might shoot out of me like a champagne cork or a tee-shirt at a football game." Elizabeth held up her son for the doctor to see more clearly hoping it would jog him out of his obvious amnesia. _Gosh, I wonder if his staff knows he's lost his memories!_

"But he didn't," Elizabeth added reassuringly. "Shoot out of me."

"He didn't?"

"Because you sewed me up," she reminded him.

"I sewed you up?"

"So I wouldn't propel Acorn across the room!" _For goodness sakes, how many women has he sewn up in space? His dementia must be pretty serious. And they're letting him get on another flight? Man, that's just wrong._

"Perhaps you'd let me hold your acorn", the doctor suggested as he wondered if she was violent. It seemed clear to him that she had wanted her husband dead and had been unhappy when he had lived. Not to mention, she had thoughts of hurling her son - who she thought was a plant seed - against a wall. "It's a very nice acorn. I'd like to hold it," he noted in an effort to get the infant safely out of her arms.

Elizabeth hesitated and changed her mind about letting this confounded man even touch her son. "Um. Maybe that's not such a good idea. You know, that whole Stranger Anxiety thing."

"I thought I wasn't a stranger to you. Why don't you hand the acorn over to me now? I need to examine it."

The concerned doctor reached for the baby in her arms, but a worried Elizabeth twisted to the side and protectively shielded her son from the seemingly demented physician. "That's okay."

"Do you have more acorns at home? Maybe a stash of them hidden at home? Where you live in the forest?" he questioned in the voice he used for dealing with small skittish children.

"In the forest?" Elizabeth's eyes grew wide in bewilderment.

"With your dwarf friends?"

At the man's words, Elizabeth moved towards the door to escape, but he stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

 _He's lost it! He thinks Aaron's an actual nut!_

The knock on the door interrupted the doctor who was about to wrestle Aaron Daniel out of Elizabeth's arms. "Get away from me!" she yelled as she struggled.

"Thank goodness. Law enforcement is here," the doctor noted when the door opened and a uniformed man entered the room. "Take her away please. She's a danger to this baby."

 **UP Next: Chapter 59**


	59. Chapter 59- The Appointment

**CHAPTER 59 – THE APPOINTMENT**

"Twin brother?"

"Twin brother," Jack, who was holding his son, repeated when Elizabeth looked at him questioningly after he had de-escalated the situation by explaining why Elizabeth confusingly thought the pediatrician was the transporter's chief medical officer.

The doctor stood a few feet away looking a bit put-out by the incident. In his analytical mind, the odds of identical twins -which was one in two hundred and fifty births- was not so astronomical that Ms. Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton couldn't have figured out the situation. He ignored the fact that he himself hadn't deduced the reason for her confusion.

"How did you know?" a surprised Elizabeth asked Jack.

"I saw a photograph on the wall of the two of them, and the nurse confirmed they were both doctors when I asked her."

 _Darn, why didn't I notice the photograph. It's that law enforcement in him. He always notices details and asks the right questions._

"Now that we've deduced who everyone is, I suggest you let me exam my patient," the doctor said with a touch of haughtiness.

* * *

"He's in fine shape," the doctor announced fifteen minutes later. Aaron Daniel, wearing just a diaper, lay on the examining table playing with the doctor's stethoscope that his tiny infant hand had refused to un-clench. "I see no problem with him going to Coal Valley provided his lab works come backs fine, and he passes his other tests, and of course, we need to get a GFRT and -."

"A what?" Elizabeth interrupted.

"GFRT. G Force Reaction Test. I don't think they've ever had someone this young go to a deep space colony." The doctor's voice trailed off as his hands gently pressed on the head of the littlest Thornton.

"I got an age waiver for him because they needed me, and I wouldn't go without my wife and family. We've both been before, so it wasn't a problem to get an exception to policy," Jack explained while he wondered with a GFRT entailed.

"After the GFRT, we'll requisition a protective apparatus."

"A what?" Jack and Elizabeth gave each other blank stares as they spoke at the same time before looking back at the doctor.

"Getting it may be a bit difficult," the doctor muttered more to himself than to anyone else in the room. His eyes scanned over Aaron's small but plump body. "But I'm sure we can manage something."

"I don't understand," Elizabeth replied. "What's a G Force reaction test? What apparatus? Why will it be difficult to get?

"G -forces can cause intense pressure on a body. You've been to space so you must know what I'm talking about."

Elizabeth nodded and the doctor continued talking.

"Babies skulls are not yet fully formed when they're born. Things are still pliable. The anterior fontanelle won't close until between nine months and eighteen months. Therefore, we don't want an increase pressure on your son's skull. Or he'd be squished." The doctor illustrated by moving his hands together as if crushing an overripe melon.

Elizabeth cringed. "Don't do that!"

"I was just illustrating for you the danger of not wearing the proper helmet."

"Well stop it!" Jack ordered as he gathered his son from the examining table.

The unfazed doctor continued with his discussion. "We'll also need a body suit so his spine and chest aren't brutally slammed into each other at the transporter's acceleration."

Elizabeth jumped when the doctor loudly slapped his hands together for emphasis.

She threw the man an angry look but then remembered that she'd be dealing with him for the next two years.

"His body will not slam together," Jack said firmly with his own menacing glare at the doctor.

"This helmet and suit? Will they work? Are you sure?" Elizabeth anxiously contemplated her precious son's perfect body which suddenly seemed very tiny and fragile to her.

"Yes. They've been used on chimpanzees."

"My son is not a chimpanzee," she retorted.

The doctor raised his eyebrows at her. "You're allowed to name your son after a nut that's eaten by squirrels but I'm not allowed to compare him to a primate?"

* * *

The machinery whirled around the baby's head for sixty seconds as it measured every centimeter and slight indentation before moving onto the rest of his body. It's beeping and humming were evidence that it was sending the infant's measurements into the modeling computer.

"We're done," the technician announced. "He's a cutie. He seems fascinated by the equipment. The apparatus should be ready by tomorrow. It's a pretty quick process and will be molded to fit exactly to what he needs based on his weight and the size of his organs and bones."

"And he needs this apparatus thing?"

"You ever had a mammogram?"

"Of course," Elizabeth responded. _I hate those darn things_.

"Well, imagine putting your son between the plates of one of those machines and –"

"Never mind!" Elizabeth interrupted.

Jack gave Elizabeth an odd look and then turned to the technician. "And it'll work? It will protect him?"

The technician shrugged nonchalantly. "It's worked on chimps."

"Mr. and Mrs. Thornton?"

The couple swirled their heads from the technician to the doorway where a man with a laptop was expectedly looking at them.

"Yes?"

"Dr. Fletcher will see you now. Fifth floor. Room 503."

* * *

The three Thorntons had no idea why one of them needed to see Dr. Fletcher or even what kind of doctor he or she was.

Elizabeth looked over the list in her hand while Jack tried to keep baby Aaron from eating his appointment slip. They hurried down the hall which was mostly deserted at the late afternoon hour. The man with the laptop who had delivered the message had then taken off before they had a chance to ask specifics.

"Dr. Fletcher. Psychiatry?" Jack questioned as he read the nameplate on the door when they came to a stop in front of room 503.

"Do we need psych exams again? Darn. They'll ask me stupid questions about my worst nightmare and my biggest fears," Elizabeth whined.

"Yeah, I guess we need them again. We just had them two years ago. I thought they'd still be good for this flight. What are you going to say your worst nightmare is?"

"Not being married to you. Same for biggest fear. You?"

"Same. Not being married to you. Good, we'll pass the psych no problem."

"I know. But they still make me uneasy."

"Like I'm going to fail because I said something stupid," Jack agreed. "Last time I said one of the ink blots looked like two people making out and the evaluator gave me an odd look. I think it was supposed to be a tree."

"Wait," Elizabeth said suddenly. She held out her hand to stop him from entering the office. "Shouldn't we say something about Aaron? That our biggest fear is losing him?"

"Yeah, you're right. Sometimes, I forget about him," Jack casually admitted.

When he saw the look on Elizabeth's face, he quickly clarified. "In a good way, I mean. Like he's so easy, it's hard to worry about him. He's just a really easy baby. . .. . Hey, you forgot about him too," he accused her.

"Just for a second! And only because I'm used to the idea of losing you as being my biggest fear," she said defensively.

"Don't worry, Acorn. We honestly love you," Jack kissed his son on the head.

"We can tell the psychiatrist about him being an easy baby, but let's leave out how we just forgot about him," Elizabeth instructed.

"Got it," Jack said as the door opened and they walked into the soothing waiting room with its lavender scented infuser and piped-in sounds of a gentle rain. "I'm starving. Let's get this over with and get home to dinner."

* * *

"Aaron?! Aaron's the one that needs a psych eval?!"

"He's Aaron Daniel Thornton? Male. Six months. Scheduled for the flight in two days?" the receptionist read from her computer screen and then turned the screen to face Elizabeth. "Is this his Earth Citizen number?"

"Yes, but he's just a baby. What do you mean he needs a psych eval? It must be a mistake."

"Everyone going to deep space for an extended time needs a pysch eval before they're cleared for flight. You two's are still good, but he needs one. You do want to take him with you, don't you?"

"Of course, we want to take him with us."

"Then what's the problem?"

"He's a baby!"

"I gathered that from his drooling," the woman replied. She reached over and took a tissue from her desk and handed it to Elizabeth to wipe the baby's chin.

"This is absurd. You can't do a psych eval on a baby," Jack protested.

"Are you worried he won't pass?"

Jack scrounged his face in disbelief at the woman's question. "How could he pass or not pass? He's a baby!"

"Has he had anything traumatic in his life which could have affected him?"

"He's six months old!" Jack exclaimed. "What could possibly happen traumatically? He sleeps, he eats, he plays, he gets his diaper changed."

"Hmm," the woman pondered. "Not exactly what our usual patients do, but I suppose it might be age appropriate."

"Of course, IT'S AGE APPROPRIATE. HE'S SIX MONTHS OLD!"

"Then I wouldn't be too worried about him passing. Unless you think that he has some depression? Maybe anxiety? Phobias? Obsessive compulsions that interfere with routine daily activities? All those things can become more intense on a deep space trip. Especially claustrophobia."

 _He is obsessed with my breasts_ , Elizabeth pondered.

"This is ridiculous," Jack muttered.

"Are you a psychiatrist?"

Jack glared at the receptionist as she moved around her desk and approached him.

"A psychologist?"

"We're neither," Elizabeth grumbled.

"Then he'll need to be tested by Dr. Fletcher. You two can have a seat in the small waiting room," the smiling woman nodded to the right, and then reached out her arms towards Aaron. "He'll be fine."

"He can't even speak," Jack argued.

"Is he mute?" the woman asked with concern and then continued with mild annoyance. "Because we'll have to call in a sign language interpreter if that's the case. It's protocol. Someone should have put that in his record. I wish people would do their jobs right. It's kind of late in the day. I'll have to check if we have a deaf-mute interpreter on the on-call roster."

"He's not deaf!"

"Oh. I thought that's why you were yelling. Okay, just a sign language interpreter for mutes."

"He's not mute!" Jack looked at her incredulously. "He's a baby! He babbles! That's what babies do! They babble!"

"He's started to say Mama . . . I think," Elizabeth piped up. _Good Gosh, I thought he was going to be an early speaker. I never thought he might be mute!_

The woman with the name-tag smiled and continued to expectedly hold out her arms, but Jack made no motion to give her his son.

"We close in an hour and if you don't get the evaluation done today, he won't make the manifest. It's up to you."

"How can you possibly test a baby for a psych exam?" Jack asked as he reluctantly transferred his son.

Surprisingly, Aaron wasn't the least bit upset by leaving his father and going to a stranger. In fact, he quickly became mesmerized by a large beaded necklace the woman was wearing.

"We have our ways," the woman replied as she moved away with the littlest Thornton.

 **Up Next: Chapter 60**

 **Dear Readers: Thanks for waiting patiently for this chapter. Sorry it took so long.**


	60. Chapter 60 - The Psych Evaluation

**CHAPTER 60 – THE PSYCH EVALUATION**

Neither Elizabeth nor Jack was allowed in the room with Dr. Fletcher and their son. Instead, they sat in a ten-foot by ten-foot room that had two chairs, a table, and a large screen. A framed poster of a black ink blot hung on one of the walls.

A young intern had come and taken photographs and a four-second long hologram of Jack and Elizabeth each and then quickly left the room again. Leaving the couple to wonder what was happening with their son.

"What do you think they're doing with him?"

"They said it was a psych test."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I got that much. I mean how do you think they're testing him?"

"How should I know? I can't even figure out what that stupid picture on the wall is."

"There's no need to get snippy with me."

"Hey, you got snippy with me first."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth told him. "I'm just nervous."

"Me too. Let's just remain calm. I'm sure he's fine. I'm sure this Dr. Fletcher is nice. She must know what she's doing. She won't do anything to traumatize him."

* * *

The couple paced the room in silence.

Jack mulled over things that still needed to be done before their move, while Elizabeth imagined herself as a duck. Not just any duck, but a brown mallard duck with a splash of blue on each wing and thin orange legs.

Earlier in the Spring, Elizabeth had been walking near the park and pushing Aaron in a stroller when she had come across a duck incessantly quacking on the edge of a grate-covered storm drain. The bird seemed desperate but Elizabeth had no idea why it was so troubled. Getting as close as she could without getting snapped at by the nervous fowl, a curious Elizabeth had peeked down through the metal bars and seen the objects of the mother's attention. Six tiny bundles of yellow fur frantically peeping from where they had fallen five feet below street level. That's how Elizabeth now felt – like a helpless mother. Unable to do anything to get to her child.

"He's never away from me," Elizabeth whined.

"He is when you're at school teaching."

"That's different. The day-care is in the room right next door to my classroom. I could go see him whenever I wanted. Which I did. And I had a monitor on my desk. He wasn't _kept_ from me."

"I know it's hard, but don't worry. The whole testing will probably take two minutes and Dr. Fletcher will realize he's only six months old and this whole appointment was a mistake."

"It's already been ten minutes," Elizabeth noted anxiously.

Jack gave her a small smile. "It's going to be fine. You need to relax."

"I can't," Elizabeth pouted and wrung her hands together nervously. "He's so tiny. And he needs me."

"Yes, he normally needs you but he doesn't need you _right_ _now_. He's okay. I love you and we are good parents. You are a teacher; you're trained to educate and help and nurture young people. You're wonderful with Acorn. Stop worrying. He'll pass any silly test. They'll probably just play peek-a-boo with him.

"I thought you said Dr. Fletcher would realize it was a mistake and he didn't need a test."

Jack chuckled at his overwrought wife. "You're right. I did. But if they give him a test because they have to follow stupid rules, he'll pass it. Stop worrying."

"He does like peek-a-boo," Elizabeth agreed as she tried to calm her nerves.

* * *

The large screen affixed to one of the room's walls seemed to come to life as an image suddenly appeared. It was the scene of office with an examining table, some chairs, and three occupants: Aaron, a woman in a white lab coat, and a younger woman with curly brown hair in a duplicate white lab coat.

"Oh God, what are they doing?!" Jack demanded anxiously as he focused on his son in the center of the other room.

The baby had been positioned – and left alone -on a flat metal surface which was four feet high. The older woman, presumably Dr. Fletcher, was leaning against a counter several steps away from the baby – too far to catch him if he crawled dangerously too close to the edge. The woman was curiously watching Aaron as if to see if he'd crawl off the table and plunge to the hard floor below.

"He's going to fall off!" Jack whipped his head sideways and looked at Elizabeth before rushing to the door. "The idiots are going to let him fall off the table!"

"The door's not opening!" he exclaimed when it didn't slide to the side despite him hitting the green one-inch in diameter button which was on the wall next to the door. "They've locked us in here!"

Jack looked to the screen again. His precious son Aaron was now mere centimeters from the edge. "He's going to fall if I don't get in there to stop him," Jack said with urgency in his voice.

Elizabeth stared at the screen image. Her heart racing until she understood what she was looking at. "No, no. It's okay. It's a visual cliff. Look closely."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look," she pointed her finger on the screen. "Look closely. There's a flat piece of glass between Acorn and the doctor. He can see straight through it and that the ground is below. It's to see if he has depth perception and knows fear."

"I know fear. Is that enough?"

"The doctor's going to frown when he looks at her," Elizabeth continued as she watched the screen closely.

"Why?"

"It's an emotional signal so he doesn't cross the glass. If he has depth perception and fear, he won't cross. And he should pick up on her emotional signal."

"How do you know all this?"

"I'm a teacher. We study children. I took a class in this stuff in college."

Sure enough, just as Elizabeth had predicted, Dr. Fletcher began frowning while at the same time holding a large teddy bear to her side. The presence of the teddy bear tempted the boy while the doctor's frown let the boy know not to make a move for it.

"She's enticing him with the stuffed animal. That's entrapment!" Jack protested.

"It's not entrapment," Elizabeth scoffed.

"Yes, it is. It's entrapment," Jack vehemently said in his son's defense. "Nothing can be used against him. If he crosses the glass, it's not his fault. She can't use it against him that he crawled off the table."

"This is not a law enforcement case, and he's not a prospective criminal. There's no trial here, Jack. Just a virtual cliff test."

"Don't cross the glass, Aaron. Don't cross the glass," Elizabeth quietly instructed her son while she and Jack both continued to stare at the screen.

She sighed in relief when her son refused to move from the solid table. "Good boy."

"What's that mean again?" Jack questioned worriedly.

"That he sees that the floor is far below. His eyes can sense the depth and are sending a signal to his brain to be afraid. So far, he's doing everything right."

The couple watched as Dr. Fletcher reached into her lab-coat pocket, pulled out a small plastic item, and held it out towards Aaron.

"She's brought out a pacifier," Jack growled. "That shouldn't be allowed. Is that allowed?"

"I don't know. I guess."

"Who comes up with these stupid tests?"

"It's okay. He's a smart baby. He won't go for it," Elizabeth said with just a bit of uncertainty. "He thinks there's a drop off from the table. See how he hesitates."

Aaron stared longingly at the pacifier and swayed his body forward. He reached out with one hand but didn't move the other hand or his knees off of the solid looking table.

"Did he pass?" Jack asked without taking his eyes off his son.

"So far. Look. He tested it with one hand. He knows there's something there but he still's not sure. He's afraid of falling. Now she's going to smile to see if he's trusting enough to crawl on something he can't see. Watch. Her frown will turn into a big grin."

Elizabeth and Jack watched as the woman smiled at their son, called out Aaron's name in a sweet sing-song voice, and dangled the bear and the pacifier in the air. Her face showed joy as she encouraged the small boy to put aside any trepidation and crawl across an almost invisible piece of glass suspended four feet in the air.

"He's not going," Jack needlessly told Elizabeth. "He wants to but he's not."

"He doesn't know her. He doesn't trust her yet. Even though she's smiling and urging him on, he doesn't trust her over the idea of falling."

The doctor turned her back to the boy, flipped open a computer screen and clicked a button.

Almost instantaneously, a hologram of smiling Elizabeth appeared.

"Come here," Elizabeth's pleasant voice echoed from the gossamer image. "Come here, sweetie."

"That's why they had us make the holograms!" an irate Jack exclaimed. "We didn't know why they had us doing that! They're tricking him! They're tricking him to jump off a cliff!"

"Calm down. They're not really tricking him. They're seeing if he trusts me. He should be hesitant but trust me enough to cross over the glass. Because he knows I would never let anything hurt him."

"But he can't tell it's safe. He's never crawled on something transparent before."

"It doesn't matter." Elizabeth kept her eyes on her son. "He trusts me."

* * *

Aaron sat propped up by a cushion while he happily sucked on a pacifier and fingered the teddy bear's ear which caused it to play a jingling tune. He didn't know why his mother had disappeared but he was quite pleased that she had encouraged him to go get the objects.

The young curly-haired woman – presumably an assistant – stood next to him to ensure that he didn't topple over while the doctor continued testing him.

"That's probably my photo," Elizabeth observed when Aaron began smiling and reaching for a piece of paper which the doctor held a few inches from the boy's face.

"Or mine."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Why would it be yours? Look how much he's reaching for it. It must be me. I'm his mother."

"And I'm his father," Jack reminded her as he watched his son happily grasp for the photo which the doctor kept slightly out of reach.

"But he spends most of his time with me," she replied smugly.

"But I sing to him and cuddle with him every night," Jack challenged back proudly.

"I do too!"

"Nah, you're usually too wiped in the evenings."

Elizabeth huffed disagreeably. "I'm sure it's my picture. I'm his mother. He's naturally going to love me more. You shouldn't be insulted. It's natural."

"I'm not insulted. Because we have a bond. It's natural. A father-son bond," Jack replied. "I cut his umbilical cord. I was the first one to touch him. You shouldn't be insulted if it's my photo he wants."

"I feed him", she shot back with an air of superiority. "Last time I checked, you didn't have breasts full of milk."

"I snuck him some apple sauce the other day. Last time I checked, you weren't made of mushed up apples."

A horrified Elizabeth gasped. "You didn't?!" Her hand went to one of her breasts as if to protect it from becoming an obsolete food source.

Jack shrugged without any guilt. "I did. We were male bonding."

* * *

In the next twenty minutes, Aaron had been shown blocks, crawled through a maze, been subjected to loud noises, had an ugly puppet jump out at him, had the lights turned off plunging him into total darkness for two seconds, and watched a video of a puppy getting scolded -to which the boy started to cry.

At the first sign of tears, the doctor and assistant had seemed pleased by the reaction which was obviously the appropriate response, and then quickly changed to a happier video.

Throughout the ordeal, Elizabeth and Jack remained tense and wondered if their son would be on the next transporter's manifest to Coal Valley.

* * *

"How's the kid?" the thirty-something man in the white coat asked as Dr. Fletcher entered the small office carrying Aaron in her arms. The door slid closed behind them.

"Adorable," the kind-hearted doctor replied.

"Any signs of a developmental delay?"

"None. He's fine. Stranger anxiety hasn't started yet but I expect it will in a few weeks. He's babbling, grasping for things, very curious about his surroundings. He's a smart happy kid. How are the parents?"

"Basket-cases."

Dr. Fletcher stood next to her co-worker in front of the two-way mirror and watched Jack and Elizabeth sitting at the table. Jack had his hands in his head and Elizabeth was staring at a computer screen and trying not to cry as her son watched the puppy being scolded. Unbeknownst to her and Jack, the image was on a three-minute delay.

"What have they been doing? Why are they so quiet?"

"They're nervous wrecks. And pretty much all talked out."

Dr. Fletcher positioned the baby against the window and he started babbling excitedly at seeing his parents. He happily smacked his fat little hands against the thick sound-proof glass.

"Do they know they're being tested?"

"Not a clue. I almost feel sorry for them."

"That bad?" Dr. Fletcher chuckled.

"It's obviously their first child. She thinks he's going to get squished in space if he's allowed to go even though they got a special de-pressure outfit. The husband thinks he's not going to be allowed to go. He's already volunteered to quit the North American Defense Force if they can't go as a family. Meanwhile, the wife keeps calling the baby Acorn – not sure what that's about."

"Did they pass?"

"Yeah. Good parents. They obviously love the kid. I think they're both going to be a bit indulgent with him, but firm if needs be. She's upset because she forgot to give the kid his blanket."

"Why's he need his blanket?"

"To sleep at night."

"It's not night."

"Yeah, she's a worrier, stuck in a room without her kid, so she's thinking of all possibilities. Normal parent stuff."

"And him?"

"He's tells her not to worry and then in the next second, suggests they break out of the room –"

"Break out of the room?"

The man nodded to the upper left corner of the ceiling." Through the air vents. Break out and steal their kid back."

"What else about them?"

"They're both altruistic. He's got that whole law enforcement thing going on. Wants to save everyone – protect the weak. Practically leapt across the room when you were doing the virtual cliff testing. She's a school teacher so she's the same- wants to teach and save everyone that needs a better education."

"How'd they score on the B1?"

"Both head-strong. Man, she's got some determination. She told him that if the baby can't go into space, and Jack – he's the husband – wants to go, that she'll march down to the Chief of Operations and demand to file an appeal so they can all go. She said she already sold the min-transporter to some salesman this morning and her sister is moving into their house and she quit her job, so they're going."

"What'd the husband say?"

"He asked how much they got for the mini-transporter and then said they'd just have to buy another one – but it will have to be used - because if Aaron doesn't pass, he's turning down the assignment and will most likely lose his job but he doesn't care."

"Then she got all teary-eyed and said she wasn't going to let him give up on a job he loved and that he felt a calling to do, and they were all going together. "

"He said he couldn't make her give up fancy restaurants or French boutiques, but she said she didn't need a lot of clothes. Just him and the baby. And then he said something about if they go to Coal Valley, they'll be far from civilization, but she smiled and said that means no noise, no crowds, and bright stars."

"They said all that?! It wasn't that long an examination!"

"From what I've observed, they're a pretty passionate couple. Very emotional."

"So they're still in love after two years of marriage?"

"Definitely. He said something about her being perfect. And that he loves her hubris."

"Hubris?"

"Yeah, that's what he said."

"Which one has the stronger personality?"

"He's stubborn and strong but then he told her that she and the kid are his whole world. She's just as stubborn and strong but then she started babbling some Latin phrase that wherever the husband goes, they all go. I'd say it's a tie."

"Compatible?"

"Perfect for each other."

"If they passed, why do you still have them in there?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure how or why, but they're just fascinating to watch. I'm actually finding myself entertained."

Up next: chapter 61

 **Dear Readers: I like to make my stories fun, but if you'd like to read more drama, let me know and I can change it up a bit.**

 **To the reader (Ash) who asked for more information on the baby in "Jack's not going Anywhere", I'll be putting it in in one of the next two chapters. Thanks for the suggestion.**


	61. Chapter 61 - The Shape of Love

**CHAPTER 61 - THE SHAPE OF LOVE**

"I love you too, Ma. I'll see you at the Thatchers."

Jack pushed the button on his bracelet and looked around at his surroundings. He had been so busy with his conversation that he hadn't paid attention to how far he had been walking since he had left the Defense Force regional office.

He now found himself standing on the sidewalk in front of a stately brick house. He was surprised that he was only a block from home.

"Hi there, Officer."

"Good evening, Mrs. Broud," Jack replied to the woman in her early sixties who was crouched near his feet. She was surrounded by seed packets and small gardening tools.

"I'm planting zinnias," she offered as she wiped some dirt from her hands. "You getting off work?"

"I am. We sold our mini-transporter so I'm walking. We're going to a deep space colony tomorrow."

"Good God! Why?!"

The woman leaned back on her haunches and stared up at Jack from under her wide-brimmed hat.

Jack chuckled. "I go where my job sends me. It's to Coal Valley on Planet Assaymark. Elizabeth and I were stationed there before. We like a little bit of adventure."

"And the baby's going with you?"

"Yep. The baby's going with us."

"To a desolate primitive colony?"

Jack chuckled again. "It's not so bad."

"What about your house?"

"Elizabeth's sister's going to move in. Hopefully it won't get too wild." He smiled at the woman who was Head of the local Neighborhood Watch program.

"If she's as nice as Elizabeth, we'll welcome her," the woman replied with her own smile. "She's not going to grow dandelion weeds in the greenhouse, is she? Because that's a bit odd, Jack."

* * *

Mrs. Broud's mention of zinnias and dandelions reminded Jack that he probably should have brought a present home for Elizabeth. After the last few days, she deserved a bit of adoration. A bouquet of flowers would be nice but he'd have to walk back at least a mile to the nearest grocery store so he decided against it.

 _Besides, they'd probably get her misty-eyed when she realizes she won't see flowers for another two years,_ he thought as he continued walking.

 _Candy? She likes chocolate with caramel._

 _That would require a walk back to town just like getting flowers._

 _Admit it, Jack. You screwed up. It's too late to get her anything. Besides, not a lot would make up for dragging her back to a deep space colony within a year of coming home._

 _With only three days' notice._

 _And making her take physical endurance test._

Yesterday had been bad enough for Elizabeth with resigning from her job and the doctors' appointments, but at least Jack and Elizabeth had handled Aaron's appointment and the psych evals together as a couple.

Jack cringed when he thought about his conversation with Elizabeth earlier that morning.

She had been beyond feeling simply inconvenienced.

Angry. Distraught. Irate. Disgusted. Exhausted. Anxious.

Those were all words which adequately represented her attitude when she had received an early morning message.

The message – short and formal- informed her of the scheduled time to take a physical endurance test before getting cleared for the flight.

Jack, who routinely took a fitness test three times a year as part of his job requirements, was as surprised as she was by the appointment notice. Because he didn't need to take another exam to qualify, he had forgotten the necessity for all passengers to have a recent exam. And apparently so had she.

"A physical endurance test! With no notice!" Elizabeth had exclaimed as she stood in her pajama bottom and tank-top in the center of their bedroom looking shell-shocked.

"Don't get so worked up," he had told her patiently. He finished putting on his shoes and then looked around for his badge before finding it underneath a stack of diapers. "It's just an endurance test. I take them all the time."

"You're in the Defense Force! You're in shape!"

"It's no big deal."

"You do fitness training every morning before your office day gets started. I burp a baby and clean snotty kids' noses before my teaching day gets started."

"You took one before. Before the last flight to Coal Valley."

"That was three years ago! When I had trained for weeks to pass! I have two hours' notice! Two f-ing hours!"

Jack had automatically run his eyes up and down her body. Assessing her.

"Are you staring at me?! At my body?! To see how bad of shape I'm in?!"

"No! No!" he lied and immediately averted his gaze from her slightly flabby torso.

"You've been walking a lot. I'm sure you can pass the test," he had offered encouragingly, and with a lot of false hope when he had really thought about it. "You're in great shape."

Elizabeth huffed disagreeable. "If I don't eat breakfast, I may just pass the weight requirement. Provided I stand on my tip-toes so they think I'm taller than I am."

"You were underweight before you got pregnant, so even if you are a bit heavier now, you should still be okay with the weight requirement."

"And the actual fitness part?" she had said scornfully. "I have not run a mile in over a year. I have two hours to get in shape and take a two-mile run test. I can't do a sit-up unless someone sits on my feet, and pulls me up by my arms! I have not done a pull-up or a push-up in so long I don't even remember the difference!"

"Okay, now you're exaggerating. Besides, aren't you entitled to some kind of waiver because you just had a baby? Did you tell them you just had a baby?"

Elizabeth had glared at him with cold eyes. "That was six months ago. Your son is six _months_ old."

Jack grimaced. "That long ago?"

"Six months and four days ago," she had said in a stone-cold voice. "Waivers are only up to six months _exactly_."

"I guess you better get started getting in shape," Jack had said before grabbing Aaron and running from the room.

* * *

Jack slowed his pace as he came to the front walk.

This morning, he had waited until Julie had come to babysit Aaron and then he had gone to work. He hadn't spoken to Elizabeth since a very brief kiss and "good luck on your test" before hurrying to take care of things at his office.

He knew that she had passed the test only because he had received a copy of the manifest three hours ago.

When the list had come up on his computer screen, he had quickly scanned it until he saw the three names he cared about. The only three names he cared about. Jack Thornton. Elizabeth Thornton. Aaron Thornton. They were all there. They were staying together as a family.

 _She'll be happy about that._

He hesitated a few steps from the house.

 _It's not my fault she had to take an endurance test._

 _Okay, it is my fault. I'm the one that's responsible for us getting stationed there._

 _Stop being a coward, Jack. Walk in the front door._

 _She can't still be mad. She'll probably be proud that she passed the fitness test._

 _God, I have no idea how she passed._

 _Honestly._

 _She hasn't worked out in ages._

Jack shook his head in surprise that Elizabeth managed to somehow squeak out a passing score, and he turned the old-fashioned front door knob.

 _Think positive. The worst is behind us. The physical check-ups, the psych evals, the endurance tests. All in the last two days. That's a lot for anyone to deal with. Thank goodness, Elizabeth is a strong woman._

 _Thank goodness she loves me!_

* * *

Elizabeth was kneeling on the carpet of the living room floor with the baby fidgeting in front of her. Her clothes were wrinkled, her hair was tousled, and she wasn't singing a sweet tune liked she often did around the baby.

The usually happy home seemed tense.

She looked up at Jack in the doorway, wiped some wetness from her cheeks, and returned an unsmiling face to her son.

"Oh, Geez, Elizabeth," Jack said apologetically when he thought about what she must be dealing with.

"What?" she grumbled.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about all of this. We don't have to go. I'll refuse the assignment. I'll quit the force. I'll find another job."

"What are you talking about?"

"Please don't cry. I hate it when you cry."

"I'm not crying," she said bitterly.

"You are. I saw your wet cheeks. Don't try to protect me. I know this is all my fault."

"I'm not crying. He peed in my face," she explained in disgust. She finished affixing a diaper to their son and handed the squirming baby to Jack.

* * *

Jack quietly reprimanded his son, and then waited another ten seconds before following Elizabeth into the kitchen where he found her washing her face in the sink.

Jostling the baby in one arm, he used the other to hand her a paper-towel.

"Congrats on passing your test," he offered in an upbeat tone as she dried her face. "I'm real proud of you."

"I peed in my shorts during the sit-ups, and my breasts started leaking milk at the one-mile mark."

"Oh God"

"By the time I finished, I was sweaty, milky, and peey. Real proud, huh?"

"I'm sure it was a first for the evaluators," she added as she handed him the wet paper-towel and walked out of the room.

UP Next: Chapter 62


	62. Chapter 62 - Love Isn't Blind

**CHAPTER 62 – LOVE ISN'T BLIND**

"I'm sorry your day was so hard."

Jack followed after Elizabeth, who slumped on the couch in the family room. "I really am proud of you for passing the endurance test. And I saw on our tracer program that you also changed the utilities into Julie's name, and updated our insurance and banking information. Oh, and thanks for picking up my uniforms from the dry cleaners."

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled as she waved her hand dismissively.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as he put his arm around her.

"It's just been a lot these last few days."

"What happened to Ubi tu, ibi ego? Where I go, you guys go? Where's that Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton hubris and determination and self-confidence I love?" he asked encouragingly.

"I lost it when I had an hour-long argument with the ship's personnel and was reminded repeatedly of the weight allowances and transporter rules."

"How bad is it with the weight?"

"The luggage or mine? Because according to the fitness instructor this morning I should try to lose ten pounds for my health."

"Um.. .The luggage?"

Elizabeth nodded to the corner of the room where Jack noticed a large plastic tub. "It's not just the weight, first it was the baby tub. I am prohibited from taking it." She enunciated the word "prohibited" in a haughty long drawn out voice as she remembered her earlier conversation with the transporter's purser.

"Why does Aaron need a baby tub?" Jack asked with a shrug. "We use the kitchen sink."

"Because we can't use a sink forever," she replied in exasperation. "And there are no bathtubs on the transporter or Coal Valley. It's only got showers."

"Can't we just take a shower with him? We did that once before because it was fun. It was a sweet family moment."

"He's six months old. Do you plan on having a sweet family moment taking a shower with him every day for the next two years? Because quite frankly, I'm thinking I'd like to take a shower by myself sometime in the next two years."

"Right. Got it. We need a tub. But why's it prohibited?" Jack asked with a nod to the corner where the object had been haplessly tossed.

"Because it takes up too much room. Everything we bring has to be able to fit in our lockers or, if it's too large, it has to be necessary, and the ship's quartermaster says it's not _necessary_."

Jack remained silent because quite frankly, he didn't know how to respond.

"I came to an agreement with the ship's quartermaster," Elizabeth told him. "It took several minutes of me demanding that he listen to reason and me threatening to speak to his supervisor and his mother when he finally offered up some type of solution. I agreed because there was really no other choice."

"What's the solution?"

"He'll let me use one of the laboratory sinks to bathe Aaron. He said that I just have to make sure it's totally free of caustic chemical residue before I put Aaron in it each time. Or else his skin might burn, disintegrate, blister, or change color."

Jack grimaced. "Ouch. Okay, we'll just make sure it's clean before we put him in. No caustic chemicals."

"What every mother needs to worry about," Elizabeth mumbled sarcastically.

"What about that pile over there? What's that all about?" Jack nodded to a five-foot high pile of objects teetering on top of one another.

"It's all on top of the scale. I was weighing it."

Jack's detective eyes scanned the pile, quickly taking in the pile of . . .. ..stuff. A baby swing. A baby seat. A high chair. Toys. Stuffed animals. Boxes of diapers. A changing pad. Two baby gates. Something that looked like a small disassembled prison which Jack assumed was a playpen.

"Um," he hesitated. "I think that's going to be more than the weight allowance," he finally ventured.

"I've got if figured out. It took a while – five phone calls – the quartermaster, the purser, and the First Officer's aide. Then the quartermaster and the purser again. But I handled it."

"Thanks. I'm sorry you had to deal with it, but I didn't know. I didn't think about all this stuff. And I was busy at work."

"The diapers were the biggest problem," she said without acknowledging his gratitude or excuses.

"What was the problem? They're necessary."

"I have boxes and boxes of disposable diapers I want to bring but I was informed by a dictator-like steward that if I bring them, I can't bring Aaron because we go over the weight allowance. Which obviously defeats the need for the diapers. But try telling that to a button-pushing man who follows regulations without thinking logically.

"Uh oh," Jack didn't like the stone-cold tone of Elizabeth's voice and where this conversation was going.

"So, no disposable diapers according to Corporal Stettler. The very unhelpful man recommended that I just use cloth diapers. According to the man who has obviously never been around a baby, I should just need _two_ cloth diapers. Two. Two!" she repeated emphatically just in case Jack didn't understand the number. "When Aaron dirties one, I should just clean it, and let it dry while I have Aaron wear the other one. Apparently, I am supposed to keep some sort of magical washer and dryer with me at all times, or maybe Aaron's supposed to only need one diaper every twelve hours."

"Did you explain to this corporal guy that two diapers wasn't enough?"

"I did. In very explicit terms. I also referred to him using words often used to describe the contents of a dirty diaper."

 _Dear Lord, she's can have a temper_.

"So just ignore him. We'll bring ten cloth diapers or so. They don't weigh that much. No problem."

"No problem if we live on Earth and have well water, rain water, and public water at our disposal. But we're going to spend four months on a transporter with limited water rations. If I use up Aaron's water minutes on washing diapers, I won't have any left to actually wash him in the lovely possible caustic-free laboratory sink that will be at our disposal."

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm using _Aaron's_ rations for bathing him, and _your_ water minutes for washing his diapers."

"I'm beginning to sense some resentment here."

"You think?"

Jack pretended not to notice the additional hostility. "It's no problem. I'll use some of my water minutes on his diapers, and I'll just take short showers with my remaining rations."

"Nope," Elizabeth responded curtly.

"Nope?"

"You won't have any water minutes left."

"I won't?"

"No, you won't."

"Because they'll all be needed for diapers?"

"Nope. Because what isn't used for diapers, I'm taking for me."

"For you?" he asked tentatively.

"To deep-condition my hair and to take long warm showers. It's your job that is making us leave our home, so it's only right that it should be you giving up your minutes."

"Right. Okay. I should have thought of that," a submissive Jack replied. "That makes sense. . . . so I just won't have any water minutes for four months. I suppose I can just use my spit to brush my teeth, and just swim in the pool to get clean. Heck, as long as you can handle me not smelling like fresh soap when I crawl into your berth, I'm good." He gave her his best boyish smile.

"What makes you think you'll be crawling in my berth anytime?' she asked dryly before getting up and leaving a chastised Jack sitting alone on the couch.

 _Damn! Flowers and Candy would have been a good idea._

* * *

Elizabeth kept her eyes shut and allowed the liquid to envelope her.

Ten minutes into her shower, she had closed the drain and allowed the water to start filling up the tub while she stood under the warm spray. Ten minutes after that, when the tub was at maximum capacity, she had finally turned off the faucet, and lay down up to her chin in the warmth.

 _I'm going to miss this._

She knew that she should probably get out, get dressed, get dinner ready, feed the baby, finish cleaning the house, be nicer to Jack, tell him she was sorry for being so inpatient with him. There was a whole list of things she should probably do.

But she didn't want to.

The last two days had overwhelmed her.

She wanted to lay in her tub, relax, and feel sorry for herself.

* * *

Despite the old adage that "Love is Blind", Jack wasn't blind to Elizabeth's appearance. She was tired, still not in perfect shape six months after her pregnancy, and her hair style since the birth of Aaron could aptly be described as tousled. Shabby-chic tousled. With more emphasis on shabby and less on chic.

Jack undoubtedly loved his wife but "love" wasn't blind. Every detail of her was etched in his mind. And if for some reason he was ever physically blind to her appearance, he could still feel her body. The fullness of her breasts. The round softness of her stomach that wasn't there two years ago. The extra weight she carried. He felt it with his hands at night when they lay in bed together. He felt it when his lips roamed her body.

A few months after Aaron was born, Jack had been in the locker room with a newly married officer and some of the single ones, when the topic of women came up. The locker room talk routinely consisted of three topics – work, sports, women. Sometimes more than one of the topics was discussed in a day, but it never strayed from those three topics.

"You should see my woman. She's got a flat tight tummy that I could bounce a dime off of," one of the men had bragged about his new girlfriend. "When she wears a bikini, I swear . . .. "

Jack had quietly listened to the men detailing their ideas of the perfect body for a woman without offering any description of Elizabeth. The men had seen her enough to know her general appearance.

"What about you, Thornton? I bet you can't wait until Elizabeth gets her figure back."

"She has her figure."

"You know what I mean. Like she was before," the man continued as he sat on a bench and tied his shoes. "Didn't she have a better figure before you guys had a kid?"

One of the men threw the speaker a warning look. None of them had actually ever seen Elizabeth before she was pregnant. For all they knew she had always carried around an extra fifteen or ten pounds.

"She didn't have a _better_ figure before Aaron. She had a _different_ figure," Jack had answered simply with a friendly smile.

He could have explained more, but he didn't. How do you tell a bunch of single man or men without children what it means to have a woman be the mother of your child? How do you explain that every time you look at your wife, you heart stirs because she put her own health in jeopardy to give you a child? How do you get them to understand that every pound, every wrinkle, every tired look of your wife's is because she is sacrificing a part of herself to give you something?

Jack knew he could never get them to comprehend what it meant. They'd have to figure out that depth of love on their own.

* * *

Elizabeth had kept the water in the tub warm but lazily turning the hot water handle with her toes every ten minutes. The small stream of hot water had mingled with the more tepid water allowing her to feel renewed warmth several times, but it was finally time to get out.

 _My skin is wrinkled like a prune. I wonder how long I was in there._

She finished drying off, and slipped on her pajamas as her stomach grumbled loudly. She had skipped breakfast for the weigh-in, and had skipped having a big lunch because she had been too busy finalizing details for their move and handling Aaron at the same time. She was torn between going straight to bed and hoping Jack could handle Aaron or first getting a bowl of cereal for dinner. Realizing she needed to take care of her family, she dragged her slipper-clad feet out of the bedroom.

* * *

Walking down the hallway towards the kitchen, she stopped in puzzlement and backed up two steps. She stood in front of the extra bedroom which was usually used by guests and stared into the room.

 _Where's the bed?_

 _Where the heck is the bed?_

 _There was a bed in that room!_

Elizabeth shook her head and wondered if she had woken up in a dream. She stepped into the room and peered around. She saw the cherry wood dresser with the marble top that she and Jack had found when they had driven a few towns over to go apple picking and had stumbled across an antique store. She saw the night stands that they had bought disassembled at a nearby store and then had put together themselves. She saw the lamps with the crystal bases that they had been given by her parents.

But no double-sized bed mattress or box spring. The empty simple frame was on the floor looking abandoned.

 _Okay. This is stupid. There was a bed here a few hours ago and now it's missing._

 _Was it here a few hours ago?_

 _Of course, it was, I was in here straightening the place for Julie._

 _Why the heck am I look in the corners?_ she thought after she had swiveled her head around _. It's not here!_

* * *

Elizabeth smelled dinner before she made it all the way to the kitchen. It made the house smell warm and cozy and like a home.

"Hey beautiful. How was your shower slash bath?" Jack, wearing pajamas and an apron, smiled when he closed the refrigerator door and saw her approaching.

"Relaxing. Thanks. I guess I was in there a long time," Elizabeth replied hesitantly as she wondered why Jack didn't think it was odd that apparently someone had come into their home and stolen a bed. "You made dinner. Thanks. Smells good."

"Eggplant parmesan. We had some frozen ones in the freezer. And I made some peas and a salad with the left-over fresh stuff. It's all ready whenever you want to eat. Vinaigrette dressing for you?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Where did these come from?" she asked as she picked up two rectangular boxes of cookies which were on the kitchen counter.

"Some Girl Scouts stopped by when you were in your shower bath. They're our dessert. You like the strawberry ones best, right?"

"Mm hmm. I do. You're wearing your matching pajamas."

Jack smiled and looked at his clothing. "That I am. I should have worn them months ago. They're really comfy."

"Where's Aaron?" Elizabeth looked around. The boy was usually within a few feet of one of them. _Did he go off with the missing bed? Or the Girl Scouts?!_

 _Did the Girl Scouts entice him with cookies to join their troop?!_

 _Don't be stupid, Elizabeth. He's a boy. They're a GIRL scout troop._

"I figured you need a peaceful dinner. I put him to bed."

"He went down this early?"

"I gave him a book."

Elizabeth smiled. "He can't read."

"Then the book will bore him and he'll fall asleep faster." Jack grinned.

"I haven't fed him yet," she challenged while trying not to smile too broadly at her husband who was looking adorable in his pajamas and her apron emblazoned with the motto 'I am Woman, hear me roar.'

"I gave him some apple sauce."

"What if he gets hungry?"

"He can eat the book."

A giggle escaped from Elizabeth. 'Then he won't be able to be bored by it. How will he fall asleep if he's eaten the book meant to make him sleepy?"

"He can count the sheep on his onesie 'jamas."

"They're not sheep," she laughed. "They're polar bears."

"Ahh. That would explain things. I was wondering why there was a sheep on an ice floe."

Elizabeth chuckled again. "Just one more thing." She took two placemats from the drawer and moved to the kitchen table. "Where the heck is our guest room bed?"

Jack shook his head while getting two glasses down from a shelf. "Don't set the table. We're eating outside. Go on, and look outside."

* * *

"Our bed is outside," she said in awe. She was standing on their large wooden deck looking at a double-sized bed flanked by an out-door kerosene heater on each side. _We have a bed outside on the deck._

"Actually, it's not _our_ bed, it's the guestroom bed. It was easier than moving ours." Jack came up from behind her. "Go ahead, crawl in under the covers. I know it's a bit chilly tonight and you have wet hair but I put extra blankets on. And extra pillows to prop us up. It should be warm and cozy.

Elizabeth turned to look at him in confusion. "I don't understand. Why? Why are we eating in bed outside?"

Jack smiled as he guided Elizabeth onto the mattress and under the covers. "You love sunsets. I wanted you to experience one last beautiful sunset before we leave for two years. You looked tired. You need sleep. You need to eat. And I know you love fresh air and being outside."

"So, we're doing everything at the same time?" she asked in bewilderment.

Jack chuckled. "We won't be eating and sleeping at the same time, but we'll eat as the sun goes down so you can see it, and then you can fall asleep right where you are if you want. Sit back and relax. The sun starts to set in seventeen minutes. I was going to come get you soon if you weren't done with your bath yet. I'll go get our food. You want wine, soda, or sparkling water?"

"Sparkling water. Lemon flavored", she piped up as Jack moved away towards the door.

"You are the most romantic man in the world," she whispered in awe as she snuggled under the blankets and looked west where the sky was starting to show the end of another day - the faintest pink and yellow color tinged the edges of the puffs of clouds.

It was going to be a beautiful sunset. Enough to fill her memories for the next two years.

 _Oh, who cares about this sunset_ , she thought giddily as she snuggled under the down-filled cover. _I have the most romantic man in the world in close quarters and with almost no distractions for the next two years!_

 _I need to look tired more often!_

 _In fact, I should take an endurance test and run errands every day!_

 _Okay, now that's going too far. Ugh, that endurance test was awful. And there aren't exactly a lot of places to run errands on a transporter._

 _But it was sooooo worth it!_ she thought delightfully as she waited for Jack to return.

 **Dear Readers: One of you wondered about what Jack thinks. Well, now we know**. 😊 **Thanks for your reviews. They not only motivate me but they give me ideas.**

 **Up Next: Chapter 63 - Nuts**


	63. Chapter 63 - The Romantic Dinner

**CHAPTER 63 – THE ROMANTIC DINNER**

Jack knelt on the mattress, handed Elizabeth a glass of sparkling lemon-infused water, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before returning into the house to get their dinner.

She sighed in pleasure at being pampered, and then smiled as she watched a grey squirrel scamper onto the deck and stop to stare at her.

 _Cute little thing. Probably wondering why there's a bed on the deck._

 _I bet it never thought of moving his mate's nest onto a tree branch just so she could see the sunset_ , she thought smugly. _Because that's only what someone really romantic like Jack would think of._

"Do you need me to help, Jack?" Elizabeth called out towards the open door to the house.

"Nope. I got it," Jack replied as he came into view. He approached the bed deftly carrying a tray with two small plates of salad and two larger plates of eggplant parmesan.

"This looks delicious." She balanced the salad plate on her lap while Jack arranged the others next to her. "Yum. Garlic bread."

"With extra dipping sauce. Just the way you like it," he replied. "Darn. Forgot the silverware. I'll be right back."

Elizabeth waited patiently for two seconds before her hunger got the best of her. She picked a piece of broken walnut from atop a spinach leaf, and popped it into her mouth.

"Here, little buddy, you look hungry." She tossed another nut a few feet away.

Elizabeth watched the animal quickly pick up the food and stuff it into its cheeks. She threw it one more nut, and turned her attention to the back door when she heard it open.

"Silverware," Jack proudly announced as he held up napkins, knives, and forks.

He was halfway onto the mattress with the supplies when the sound of doorbell chimes floated from the house.

"Darn, you expecting anyone?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No. It might be Julie."

"Why?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know. She likes to show up unannounced."

"If it's Julie, do I have to let her in?" Jack called over his shoulder as he walked back into the house.

"Yes.. . . If it's the Girl Scouts, get more cookies!" she yelled out louder as Jack disappeared back inside.

She hesitated for a moment but then took a bite of spinach and hoped Jack wouldn't notice that she had started without him.

"You're not so shy now, are you?" she spoke out when the squirrel moved closer to the bed. "I guess you want more of my walnuts, huh? Well, two more."

Elizabeth tossed small bits of broken walnut onto a wooden slat of the deck, and turned her attention to the horizon.

The sun was getting closer to setting and she wanted to memorize every detail.

In twenty-four hours, they would be in space. Hurtling through the universe on a transporter. If she ever got homesick over the next two years, she planned to think back to this evening.

The peaceful breeze. The vibrant colors of the sky. The beauty of nature.

The wonderful incredible glorious Earth and everything that made it up.

* * *

"It was Mrs. Broud from around the corner," Jack announced when he returned. "She wanted Julie's EC number so she could contact her. And I suspect spy on her a bit. I gave her the public code."

"Probably a good idea we have a neighborhood watch program. It will keep Julie in line."

Elizabeth took her hand and patted the mattress next to her. "Climb in. Let's eat."

"You start. I'll get the baby monitor and check on Acorn one more time."

"Hurry back."

Elizabeth put a forkful of salad into her mouth and savored the taste of the vinaigrette which had a hint of raspberries.

When she re-positioned herself to move her napkin onto her lap, she accidently jostled the plate of eggplant, covered in red sauce, which was on the mattress next to her. A small drop of tomato puree landed on her napkin.

Elizabeth was in the midst of being grateful that it hadn't landed on the white bed sheets, when she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Look, you've got a friend," she said pleasantly to the squirrel chewing on one walnut which it held in his front paws, while the other nut lay protected near its rear paws.

Elizabeth frowned. "Oh, no. It's not a very friendly friend, is it."

"Not friendly at all."

"Stop it! Scat! Get away from each other!"

She plucked a morsel of food from Jack's salad plate and threw it at the fighting rodents but they ignored her as they wrestled their little bodies, and then the new visiting squirrel began furiously chasing the original one around the deck.

They shrilly chattered their fury at each other over ownership of the nuts.

Elizabeth frantically pushed her back against the pillows, jostling her plate, and watched with wide eyes as one squirrel – quickly chased by the other- leapt onto the covers, sprinted across the mattress, and jumped back down onto the deck.

"Get away! Get off! "

She scowled at the red sauce that had spilt on the covers and wondered if squirrels carry rabies and if they were going to tear each other apart in front of her.

It reminded her of watching a video of the African Savannah where a lion chases down a zebra.

 _Except this is my backyard and not the woodlands of Africa._

 _And these are two squirrels. Not large wild beasts._

 _And they're fighting over nuts which I got on sale at the corner market._

 _But I still don't want them on my bed!_

She wildly jerked her head to the left, the right, and then the left again as the rodents furiously raced around the deck, vaulting off a patio chair, and knocking over a small potted plant.

"Stop it!"

A breeze of wind blew over the mattress, carrying the aroma of the meals through the air and causing the squirrels to do what her words couldn't. They stopped abruptly and faced her.

Almost in unison, like a set of twins, they stood on their hind legs, twitched their small noses, and focused their beady eyes in Elizabeth's direction.

Their quarrel with each other was forgotten as the scent of garlic bread enticed them.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked warily.

The squirrels seemed to become emboldened by the idea of the bread and scampered closer to the bed before stopping to stare at Elizabeth again.

"What?!"

"What did I do?"

"Stop looking at me!"

"No," she ordered as she raised herself up on her knees, and then began widely wavering her arms. "Don't you even dare think about coming over here!"

* * *

A gob-stopped Jack stood on the deck and stared at the bed covers and pillows which were smeared with swaths of red.

"What the hell happened?!"

With his mouth still agape, he stared at Elizabeth''s pajamas which were splattered with the same red sauce. Making the polar bears look like they had been viciously clubbed by hunters.

"They were deranged!"

"Who?!" Jack whipped his head from side to side, taking in an upended chair and overturned plates of food. "Who was deranged?!"

"The squirrels," Elizabeth threw her arms out into the yard, which was now empty of the bread thieves.

A piece of eggplant lay in the grass where it had been discarded by one of the squirrels who discovered it was too big and heavy to continue dragging.

"Squirrels?" Jack asked as if he hadn't heard correctly. He looked around the yard again to see if there was a man with an axe trying to hide behind a bush.

"Squirrels," she repeated. "They stole my garlic bread . . . . and made this mess."

" _Squirrels_ made this mess?"

When Elizabeth nodded meekly, she noticed a blob of red sauce in her wet hair.

She scrunched her face in disgust, removed the splotch, and wiped her hands on her clothes before returning her attention to her disbelieving husband, who was still staring at her in shock.

"How many? Was it _EVERY_ squirrel in Canada?!"

Elizabeth cringed.

"Two," she answered sheepishly.

She bit on her bottom lip and noticed the birdfeeder was still faintly swinging from when one of the squirrels had used it to launch himself onto her mattress while she had pathetically ordered it away.

"Two?"

"Two."

"I was gone four minutes! FOUR MINUTES! I had to change Acorn's diaper. How did _TWO_ small squirrels do this in four minutes?!"

"They were like an evil Chip and Dale!" she yelled in her defense.

"Chip and Dale are chipmunks! Not squirrels."

"Then they were like Attila the Hun and Ghengis Khan!"

Jack raised his eyebrows at her. "Those two lived like 800 years apart from each other. And they were actual humans. Not suburban squirrels."

"They had rabies!"

"Squirrels don't get rabies."

"Stop correcting me!" she wailed pathetically.

"Did you feed them?"

"What?"

"Did you feed them?"

"Why would you ask that?" a guilty Elizabeth responded. _How does he know everything?!_

"Why aren't you answering me?" he challenged with a knowing look.

Elizabeth suddenly felt nervous under Jack's scrutiny. "Are you interrogating me? Because you're very good at. I can see why you got that promotion."

"I notice you're not answering me."

"What makes you think I would feed them? I don't know why you'd even ask such a silly question. Do I look like someone who would feed deranged rodents?"

The corners of Jack's mouth turned up in a small smile, but he quickly hid it. "If you feed a wild animal it becomes bolder. I am assuming you fed them something and then they came after our dinner."

Jack let out a deep breath when she didn't immediately respond. "I'm waiting."

"Maybe" she guiltily mumbled.

"How many times?" he asked.

"What?"

"How many times did you feed them?"

"Does it make a difference? Because I don't think it does."

"Just curious."

"You are curious about the most unusual things."

"I am."

"Once. Or twice. Maybe four times" she squeaked.

He put a hand to his face and rubbed one of his cheek as he looked at the remains of his perfectly planned evening.

"I – It- They –" Elizabeth stuttered as she too assessed the scene.

"What is that out there?" a stunned Jack asked as he surveyed the lawn. "Is that the eggplant I just made?"

 _Oh, Gosh. He did put a lot of work into making dinner._

"It's still good!" Elizabeth said hurriedly. She ran down the few steps to the lawn and grabbed the smooshed eggplant slice off the ground.

"See, it's still edible". She held it up for him to see. "Just a bit of grass on it. . . . and some dirt," her voice trailed off as she began wiping the food.

"You have got to be kidding me," he mumbled.

"I'll eat this one! You can have mine!"

Elizabeth hurried back up the deck. "It's yummy. And a little dirt is healthy – I think", she added hesitantly. "And I'm sure the salad is still good!"

"Where is the salad?"

 _Oh, gosh, I forgot about that_.

"Elizabeth, where are our salad plates?" he looked around and then prodded her as he narrowed his eyes.

"Um." She cringed before responding quietly. "Smooshed under the pillows."

When Jack didn't say anything, she made a desperate attempt to take the blame off of her. "You were supposed to hurry back!"

"I was changing a diaper and getting Aaron to fall asleep. I had no idea you were under strategic attack by crazed rodents who have an obsession with Italian food," he said dryly but she was pretty sure she sensed a hint of laughter in his tone.

"I'm sorry," she replied feebly. She lifted a portion of the bed-covers that had landed on the deck and wondered if the red sauce stain would come out if she quickly put it in the wash with some bleach.

Jack shook his head in a mixture of disgust and disbelief. "It looks like you either gave birth in bed or you discovered my mistress in bed waiting for me and killed her."

"You have a mistress?"

"God, I hope not," Jack winced. "Or else she'd be dismembered under the sheets right about now."

Elizabeth giggled and saw the corners of Jack's mouth definitely turn up in a smile.

"It was wild," she eagerly explained. She moved around the deck picking things up and excitedly talking to Jack, who watched his tousled-hair, tomato sauce-splattered wife get dirt on her hands when she moved a flower pot.

He moved closer to her but she didn't seem to even notice as she continued straightening the mess.

"They were cute at first but then started fighting, and I thought they might have rabies. They chased each other into the tree and swung onto the deck – I swear one thought he was Tarzan, and they smelled my food –"

Elizabeth was cut off in mid-sentence by Jack's kiss.

His long passionate kiss that kept going as he lowered her down onto the mattress.

 **Up Next: Chapter 64**

 **Dear Readers:**

A reader asked if I have experience with child psychology after my chapter on the psych eval. I don't have any, but I do like to read and discover new things. But speaking of experience, I do have _extensive_ experience with squirrels this season as they have discovered a new hobby of pelting me with acorns as I try to relax on my deck.

To the reader who reads my story at night before bed, I'm so glad! I love the idea that my story makes you smile at the end of your day.

To the readers who have asked about my other stories, I promise that I'm not done with "Jack's not going anywhere," and "Reversal of Fortune." 😊 I'll get back to them.

To all of you, Thanks for reading, enjoying, laughing, and reviewing.


	64. Chapter 64 - Prelude to a Voyage

**CHAPTER 64 – PRELUDE TO A VOYAGE**

"Aaron Daniel Thornton. Aaron Daniel Thornton. Will the parents of Aaron Daniel Thornton, please identify yourselves?"

Elizabeth and Jack, from their seats in the waiting area of the airport, turned their attention to the woman speaking into her clip-on microphone who was standing thirty feet away from them.

The family had checked in at the reception counter, and passed their bags through the long cylinder to be checked for contaminants and weighed to ensure they met the maximum allowances.

There was still an hour until it was time to board, and the knitting needles in Elizabeth's hands had been moving at a slow but steady pace until interrupted by the announcement.

Elizabeth didn't mind an interruption; she actually had no idea what she was even making and was merely going through the motions of making a scarf or maybe just a chain of long knots or maybe even a sock. She had hoped the action of knitting and purling would keep her from thinking about being propelled through the atmosphere on top of rockets filled with burning fuel. Luckily, she found knitting to be pretty dull and she had bored herself enough that the thought of exploding no longer made her sweat nervously.

"Right here," Jack spoke up and lifted his hand.

The uniformed woman moved through the crowd and smiled as she approached them.

"He really is just a baby," she said pleasantly when she saw Aaron Daniel. "I thought they were pulling my leg. Here's the charger for his pressure suit and helmet. The helmet gets Velcro-ed to the suit collar," she explained as she picked up the personalized garment and showed them the area for the helmet to be affixed. "Did they explain it to you when they disbursed it?"

"They did," both Jack and Elizabeth said. Jack's answer was calm and confident, but Elizabeth's had a hint of worry.

 _Drat, I thought I was past worrying._

 _No, it was exploding that I was no longer worried about,_ she grumbled silently

 _I still have to worry about imploding._

It all seemed simple enough but she now couldn't stop thinking of her precious son's skull and how it – and his body – needed protection from the G-Forces during take-off. She knew that a baby's skull took months to fully fuse together, but she never would have given it a second thought if she had remained on Earth like an average wife and mother. If Jack hadn't received orders to go to Coal Valley, Elizabeth would be worried about incoming teeth, not the softness of her baby's bones and what would happen to them during the intense pressure of leaving Earth's gravity.

The woman, wearing a name-tag identifying herself as Aurora, easily fitted the charger into a small pouch on the suit. "Put the suit on him after we board or he'll just get hot now and you may still need to change his diaper. Then push this button when we take off. No need to start before then."

"That will start the reverse pressure?" Elizabeth asked.

"Exactly. The suit can sense the pressure on the outside of it. The pumps sewn inside – don't worry, they're there even if you can barely feel them - will automatically begin to adjust to compensate. It's only needed during lift-off. Once you no longer feel the G-Forces, you can take it off of him. It's that simple."

"And it will work, right?"

The uniformed woman shrugged and smiled. "It works on chimps."

* * *

"Your son is acting like a chimp," Elizabeth complained fifteen minutes later as she changed the squirming baby's diaper. She was kneeling on the carpet of the waiting area with the baby lying in front of her. His little legs kicked about as if he was riding a tri-cycle while his hands waved back and forth excited by the over-head lights.

"Here, give him this," Jack replied. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a four-inch long object.

Elizabeth took the item and looked curiously at it. It was obviously a rattle but on one end was the image of her sister smiling broadly. "Where'd you get this?"

"Julie. She gave it to him at the party. I think she wants to make sure that she's always the favorite aunt."

"Thanks for being so good at the party. I know my family can be a handful."

"My mom wasn't the easiest on you. Not with her talk about how you can volunteer to teach remotely and how she also expects weekly updates on Acorn."

"At least she didn't try to bribe you," Elizabeth remarked as she handed a freshly clothed Aaron to Jack. She tossed away the dirty diaper – the last of her disposable ones – and sat back down on bench next to them.

The party held in honor of Grace's Thatcher's birthday earlier that day had been filled with the usual emotions of fun and good wishes, but had also been filled with drama that could only be found at the Thatcher mansion.

Halfway through the party, Mrs. Thatcher had pulled her middle daughter into the kitchen- a room she was only slightly familiar with herself – and informed Elizabeth in a hushed voice that the family would be happy to financially support her for the next two years if she decided not to get on the transporter. Not only would they pay her mortgage if she chose to stay in the 'charming but obviously overly quaint house' on Mon Amour Street rather than move into her old room in the Hamilton mansion – although they would love to have her move home -, but they would also pay for a governess for Aaron. Plus, her mother whispered secretly, if Elizabeth stayed on Earth, they would buy Aaron his first pony and he could take baby swim lessons in their swimming pool or at the country club. It would be the best birthday present in the world for me if you decide to stay in Hamilton, her mother had attempted to cajole a dumbfounded and disgusted Elizabeth.

If that hadn't been bad enough, after an Elizabeth had walked out of the kitchen in a huff, she had bumped into Jack coming from her father's study.

"Your father just offered me a considerable amount of money to convince you to stay here on Earth without me," he had told her in disbelief.

"Was it tempting?"

"A bit," he had said as if contemplating the idea.

"Really?"

"Hey, your parents have a lot of money. And I mean A LOT. I could buy a motorcycle for when I get back to Earth, and a bachelor's pad to put it in."

"That's a long time to wait to enjoy spending your money," she had noted with an impish smile.

"I suppose you're right. Well then, I guess I'll just keep you and Aaron with me."

"Smart choice," she had informed him before giving him a quick kiss and then going to save Aaron from being smothered in kisses by Jack's mother. The older woman had already affixed a bib around him which she had cross-stitched with "Grandma's little boy."

* * *

The Thornton trio of Jack, Elizabeth, and Aaron had been taken to the airport by the Thatcher's usual driver, who had done his best to make pleasant conversation, but Elizabeth had found herself once again preoccupied. It wasn't just the birthday party, or the upcoming flight.

She had woken up that morning with the nagging feeling that she had forgotten something important. Something that began with a "B". Or maybe a "C". Or maybe neither. She wasn't sure. It was one of those times when the words seemed to be on the tip of her tongue. The idea on the edge of her memory. But she just couldn't fully grasp it. Like it was a dandelion wisp she was chasing in a breeze and it kept slipping from her fingers.

As she sat in the airport waiting area, the feeling came back to her. She had forgotten something.

"What are you thinking about?" Jack asked. He was helping Aaron stand up; his tiny feet planted on Jack's thighs as the two male Thorntons faced each other and Aaron made happy babbling sounds.

Jack took a cloth diaper from his shoulder and placed it across one of his legs when a drop of Aaron's drool landed on his pants.

"I'm trying to remember what I forgot. I still think it begins with a B."

"It was probably something to do with your mom's birthday. We gave her a present. We showed up at the party. You sang a beautiful Happy Birthday, and we complimented her new hair cut – which was dreadful by the way."

"Earlier you said it probably had something to do with the baby."

"Yeah, but we went over the list three times."

"You gave them everything?"

"I dropped it all off at the cargo hold," Jack said with a quick nod. "Baby gate. Baby highchair. Baby changing pad. Baby playpen. Baby swing. Along with the exception to policy from Dr. Fletcher stating that Aaron is a science study and therefore he's allowed cargo. And what I didn't drop off we have in our bags and on my lap. One baby boy. Aaron Daniel. Ready for takeoff." Jack gave his son a big grin and a kiss.

Elizabeth frowned. "For some reason baking comes to mind."

"Baking?"

"Yeah. I just don't know why."

"Did you turn off the oven?"

"I didn't even use it today. Or yesterday."

"Something to do with Abigail then?"

"I don't think so. I messaged her yesterday and she's definitely on this flight. Her sabbatical is over. She's probably on board already in the kitchen."

"BATTERY!" Jack announced suddenly. "You were trying to remember that we needed to get a battery charger and we just got it. There. Problem solved."

"I suppose you're right," Elizabeth conceded.

"Of course, I am. And even if I'm not, even if you forgot something, it can't be important. We have everything important right here."

Jack skillfully held Aaron with one hand and with his other hand, he lifted one of Elizabeth's hand to his lips, causing her to smile. He was right. They had everything they needed.

* * *

Almost an hour later, the Thorntons still hadn't boarded.

"PASSENGERS ON TRANSPORTER FLIGHT S9E1, THE LIFT-OFF TIME IS NOW SCHEDULED FOR SEVENTEEN HUNDRED HOURS. WE APOLOGZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE AND HOPE TO BOARD AS SOON AS PRACTICAL."

The clear voice which had come over the intercom system caused dozens of people sitting in the waiting room's plastic chairs to look up from what they were doing and glance at their watches or the clock on the wall.

"You think he needs to eat again before we take off?" Jack asked with a nod towards the sleeping infant in his arms.

Elizabeth quickly mentally calculated when she had last fed her son. "He should be okay. If he wakes up on his own, I'll feed him. You want me to hold him so you can go stretch your legs?"

"Nah, I'm good. I'm reading. You go walk around if you want."

"Actually, I'm enjoying just sitting here relaxing. Just think about it, Jack. No mortgage payments –"

"As long as Julie pays them", Jack interrupted.

"She will. No mortgage payments. No mini-transporter payments. No job for me. Barely a job for you. No appointments. No commitments. No lawn to take care of. No real stresses. We've got four months to relax and enjoy being a family."

Elizabeth leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Her face eased of any tension.

She thought more about what the next two years would be like. Jack. Aaron. Making a home in Coal Valley. And before that, there was the four months on the transporter. Sharing a set of family quarters.

 _Finally, quarters without two other men or two scantily-clad females!_

 _We've never really had private quarters . . . except those first few days on the return flight._

 _Thornton Quarters._

 _The Thornton FAMILY Quarters. I like the sound of that._

 _Wow. Who would have thought things would have turned out so wonderfully after our first meeting in this very place when he could barely stand me?!_

There was no doubt that Elizabeth had won the lottery the day she met Jack. She had told him before, and she still firmly believed, that she had won every lottery in the world the day he decided to love her.

Not only was he a wonderful father, but he still remembered how to be a wonderful romantic husband after two years of marriage.

Elizabeth thought back to last night and a small smile spread across her face.

Last evening, they had been a few minutes into – well – she didn't want to think too much about it or she'd really start smiling and people would probably stare at her and wonder why she had her eyes closed and huge smile on her face. Although, Jack would probably guess correctly.

Anyway, they had been a few minutes into you-know-what, when he had taking his lips off of hers for just a second, looked towards the horizon, and asked if she wanted him to stop so she could look at the sunset. Her breathless response of "who gives a damn about a sunset", had caused him to chuckle and then continue with what she assumed that he must do better than every male in the world. She couldn't imagine any other man making her feel that way.

A giggle escaped her as she thought about the squirrel fiasco.

 _Those sheets were ruined with the red sauce stains, but who cares. Julie can buy her own sheets._

Suddenly the memories came flooding back to Elizabeth. One memory speedily leading to another.

In less than two seconds, it all came back to her. Drowning her in the horror that she had forgotten to do something monumentally important.

The red sauce which had looked like blood.

Blood.

Blood reminded her that she had given blood two days ago as part of her doctor's appointment.

Her doctor's appointment.

Her doctor's appointment where, as she had lain on the exam table, Aaron had started to fuss.

Aaron's fussing had caused her to move her body to look at him.

Moving her body had caused the doctor to drop her instrument.

Dropping the instrument had caused the doctor to casually say it would be a few more minutes while she went to get a new device.

But Elizabeth had been worried about missing Aaron's appointment.

So the doctor, who in anticipation of completing Elizabeth's appointment had already filled out the form clearing her for space travel, had graciously offered to let Elizabeth leave and come back after Aaron's appointment.

Elizabeth had promised her doctor she'd be back to finish up right after Aaron's pediatric exam was over.

But she _hadn't_ gone back to her own doctor's appointment.

Because after Aaron's appointment had been the psych evaluation appointment with Dr. Fletcher.

And then the doctor's office had been closed, and she and Jack had been hungry, and Aaron had been tired. And . . . she had forgotten. She had totally forgotten to finish her appointment. Even when she had gotten the laboratory results that she was healthy and cleared to travel, she hadn't remembered the doctor's casual instruction to stop by to finish up.

Elizabeth had been so busy, she had completely forgotten. Until now.

Elizabeth bolted upright in her seat and her eyes flew open.

 _Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!_ _ **CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRRRRAAAAAAPPPPPP ! ! ! !**_


	65. Chapter 65 - Last Minute Shoppe

**Dear Readers: From your reviews, it sounds like several of you figured out what Elizabeth forgot!** 😊

 **CHAPTER 65 - The LAST MINUTE SHOPPE**

"Are you okay?" Jack asked when Elizabeth – a petrified look on her face – tensed in her seat as she finally remembered what she had forgotten. Her mind finally stopped thinking CRAP and now just froze.

"Elizabeth, are you okay?" he asked again.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I – uh – I just need to . . . um. . . .go to the bathroom," she explained as she stood up.

"Don't be gone long. They may call our flight."

"Right. I'll be right back."

* * *

Elizabeth grabbed her handbag and hurried down the crowded concourse lined with shops and places to eat. Donut Delight. Hummus Heaven. Artichoke Adventures.

 _Who can eat at a time like this?!_

She hastily walked past Biscuits by the Basket, and the ladies' restroom, not even slowing her pace as she frantically scanned the establishments' facades.

A hundred yards down the long hall, she found the store she was looking for.

A slightly out-of-breath Elizabeth approached the young cashier wearing a bright cheery red sales shirt with the name 'Last Minute Shoppe' embroidered on the front pocket.

"I need condoms," Elizabeth declared with a gasp.

She hoped that the store's spelling of Shoppe, which was meant to evoke a sense of old-fashioned charm and quaintness, didn't mean that it only sold things from centuries ago. _If she pulls out a clunky metal medieval chastity belt and offers it to me instead of modern birth control, I'll scream._

"How many?" the unfazed woman behind the counter asked as she turned to the cabinet behind her.

"How many?"

"How many condoms do you need?" the cashier, who appeared to be in her early twenties, repeated in a bored voice and then blew a bubble with her chewing gum.

 _How many? How many?_ Elizabeth thought frantically _._

 _We have sex two to three times a week. Let's say three to be on the safe side. No, twice a week because Jack will likely not speak to me for a while when he finds out I forgot to get the BCHD implanted. And he can hold a bit of a grudge. No, go with three. Wait, I'll get my period each month so no sex then. No, that never lasts more than three days. What about Aaron? He leaves me too tired for sex sometimes. . . but I won't have much to do on the transporter and even living in Coal Valley won't be that demanding because there's not a lot of distractions or places to go. Okay, if we have sex three times a week . . .three times a week times times -_

"Ma'am?"

"Give me a minute!" a frazzled Elizabeth exclaimed.

 _Three times a week times fifty weeks a year. That gives us two weeks to account for being sick with a cold or something. Oh wait, we won't get colds. We're going to a sterilized environment where everyone is healthy. Okay. Three times a week times fifty-two weeks a year equals -_

"You can estimate," the well-meaning cashier interrupted Elizabeth's thoughts. "I think most people find two are fine for a romantic evening. Unless it's a weekend retreat that you're going on. Then maybe four. If I was going on a weekend retreat, I'd go somewhere warm and sunny. We don't sell bikinis so I hope you remembered to pack that if you're going somewhere beachy. We have sunscreen, though. They're over there", the woman said with a nod to the far wall.

When Elizabeth didn't immediately respond but continued to look flustered while she did the mental calculations, the cashier gave her an odd look.

"Ma'am? Is it a long weekend? Do you think you'll need more than four?"

"I'm counting!"

 _Three times a week times fifty-two weeks is . . . one hundred fifty-six. One hundred fifty-six times two years._

"I need three hundred and twelve." Elizabeth declared confidently.

"Three hundred and twelve?!" the woman repeated in astonishment.

"Three hundred and twelve. Give or take one or two because things can come up."

"Ma'am, I don't mean to pry or to pass judgment but maybe you-" the woman began hesitantly but Elizabeth was fidgeting and looking over her shoulder as if she was about to get pounced on, that the cashier stopped her lecture before it even really began.

"Please hurry," Elizabeth urged. "I need three hundred and twelve condoms."

"They come in packs of four," the cashier said apologetically as she placed a packet on the counter.

"Packs of four ?!" a wide-eyed Elizabeth erupted.

 _Okay, remain calm_ she told herself as she mentally calculated the math. _Thank goodness I'm good at math_.

 _Bad at remembering to finish appointments, but good at math._

"Packs of four. . . . . I need seventy-eight packs."

* * *

The cashier had handed Elizabeth the three packs which she had behind the counter and then gone to look for more in the back room, where she found another two packs.

Five packs.

Five measly packs of four condoms each. For a total of twenty.

Twenty condoms for a twenty-four month journey.

The fact that Elizabeth was good at math made the situation seem even more dire.

"How can you not have any more?! Can you look again, pleeeasse?"

"I've already looked twice. We don't usually carry a lot. This is an air-space port. People come here to get a bag of potato chips, gum, life-savers, maybe a bottle of aspirin or a toothbrush that they forgot to pack. We're not a motel in Las Vegas, Ma'am."

The cashier seemed to feel the depth of Elizabeth's anguish. "Wait", she suddenly said happily. "I think I've got one in my purse!"

She pulled out her bag and rifled through it before handing a single condom to Elizabeth. "Sorry, that's all I've got – no charge for it."

"It's glow-in-dark!" she added encouragingly in an attempt to lessen Elizabeth's anxiety.

* * *

Elizabeth realized that it didn't matter that the store only had five packets. She never could have carried all of them in her handbag and pockets anyway. She was already at the twenty-five pound weight limit for luggage.

 _What am I going to do?! How do I tell Jack that I didn't get my birth control implanted? Think._

 _Remain Calm._

 _Just think._

 _Who would know what to do in a situation like this?_

 _Who can handle situations like this ? Men and romance._

* * *

"You what?!" Julie shouted at Elizabeth. "How could you be so careless? How could you forget to get your birth control implanted? You're going into deep space! _I'm_ supposed to be the careless one. _You're_ supposed to be the sensible mature daughter."

"Just help me!"

"How?"

"Bring me some birth control," Elizabeth whispered. She kept her mouth hidden by one of her hands in case anyone watching her could read lips and was interested in what an attractive frazzled woman was discussing.

"Even if I get to the store and then to the airport in the next thirty minutes, you've already gone through security. You'll have to come out into the nonsecure area to meet me, and they'll never let you do that just before a deep space flight."

Elizabeth, standing behind a tall column in the corner of a vacant lounge for extra privacy, stared at the small image of Julie in her messenger bracelet.

"What about Father? It's one of his company's transporters."

"You want me to tell Father that you need several hundred condoms?" Julie said wryly. "Because I think that for the first time ever, he'll think higher of my morals and judgement than of yours."

"I'm married! There's nothing wrong with my morals!"

"But apparently there's something wrong with your planning."

"It's been a really busy last three days! I had a lot going on!"

"So, do you want me to tell Father to see if he can stop the transporter from lift-off, delay a mission that's been planned for months, and inconvenience all the other passengers so that I have time to have male protection delivered?"

"I don't know", Elizabeth moaned.

"Because I have a feeling that he'll just tell you to miss the flight. Mother will say it's a sign that you're supposed to stay on Earth. She really wants you to stay. But, hey, if you want me to tell them, I will. I love drama!" she said a little too eagerly.

"No. Don't tell them, but . . I don't know. . . Think of something! I am going away for two years and I only have enough protection for three and a half weeks!"

"Do you think Jack will notice?"

"Of course, he'll notice if I stop wanting to have sex!"

"What's the worse that can happen? I mean other than the obvious of some marital riffs?"

"I could get pregnant," Elizabeth hissed.

"Would that be so bad? I love being an aunt."

"Acorn is six months old. It's too soon to get pregnant again! –"

"He's so adorable. Like a miniature version of Jack."

"We got lucky that he was healthy," Elizabeth reminded her sister. " I don't want to chance it again. It's too risky with radiation and unknowns. We're going to a deep space colony that does not have an OBGYN, labor and delivery staff, or a neo natal unit! I am not getting pregnant and having a baby in deep space! I am not wearing a radiation apron again!"

"Fine. Stop getting over-excited. Let me think," Julie said. "Are you sure you just can't get birth control on the ship or in Coal Valley?"

"Positive. We had this whole drama on the last flight when my BCHD stopped working. Jack practically hyperventilated when he found out we didn't have protection. But then we found out we were pregnant anyway so it didn't matter after all."

"If I can't get into see you by your gate, how about I go buy a box - or crate of them - and bring them to the airport. I'll use my Thatcher Company credentials to get into the holding area and tell them that the crate-"

"I don't need a _CRATE_ of them", Elizabeth interrupted disagreeably.

"Fine. I'll tell them that the large box of – shall I say – romantic apparel – ooh, no, I'll call them anthropology-evolution-related devices -" she said in a voice indicating that she was taking way much too pleasure in the drama. "- it goes into the cargo hold. Then, once the flight is underway, and you have time – and provided that you can control you desires and not go through your entire supply in the first day and night – you can go to the cargo section and get them."

PASSENGERS ON TRANSPORTER FLIGHT S9E1, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE. WE ARE NOW BOARDING. PASSENGERS ON TRANSPORTER FLIGHT S9E1, WE ARE NOW BOARDING.

"They just called my flight," Elizabeth wailed.

"I'm sorry, Sis. There's no way I can get them there now."

"Hold on, Jack's messaging me." Elizabeth noticed Jack's typed messaging crossing over Julie's image. "He's asking where I am. I've got to go."

"Good luck."

"I don't need luck. I need birth control," Elizabeth muttered as she disconnected her conversation with Julie and hurried back to her gate's waiting area.


	66. Chapter 66 - Admission

**Dear Readers: Thank you. I love to read your reactions to my story, to include reading that you laugh aloud at work! To my reviewer, who, after laughing, decided to read poetry to help fall asleep (like boring Elizabeth) – I had forgotten about that! : ) Sometimes, I forget what I've written and which story for which I've written it! Loved your mention of it.**

 **To my French reader : Merci pour votre avis. Ma mère me l'a traduit. J'ai essayé d'apprendre le français avant de visiter le Canada l'année dernière, mais j'ai très peu appris. Je vais devoir réessayer**!

 **CHAPTER 66 – ADMISSION**

Jack gently maneuvered Aaron's last limb into his suit, velcro-ed it closed, and looked around the waiting area, scanning it for Elizabeth, who had been gone longer than he had expected. He had messaged her after hearing the announcement that the flight would be boarding, but she hadn't responded.

His face showed his relief at seeing her approach.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

"You seem kind of frazzled."

"I'm fine. Just worried about the trip. Silly stuff. You know that I don't like take-offs. How's he doing in that thing?" she asked with a nod towards their son.

"Fine. He's still half a sleep. Grab the helmet, and let's get in line." Jack touched his hand to her back for a fleeting but tender moment. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

* * *

Boarding the transport was efficient and the family was quickly settled into their assigned grey bucket-seats in a row to themselves.

Jack, who was in the aisle seat, proudly smiled and returned pleasantries as passengers walking past them to their own seats grinned and remarked at how adorable the littlest space passenger looked.

From what Elizabeth remembered, the pre-flight check would take about an hour. Then would come the loud sounds as the engine prepared for lift off, the thumping of the valves, the rumbling of the engine fires, and then the movement. Going from zero to seventeen thousand miles per hour in eight and a half minutes. G-Forces would be pressing her against her seat as if she had four hundred pounds sitting on her chest. And the lack of gravity until the ship turned on the artificial version.

Elizabeth felt Jack's eyes on her but she avoided looking at him and pretended to be concentrating on the information pamphlet in the seat pocket.

 _How does he always know when somethings bothering me?! I should have chosen a less attentive husband._

 _Okay, that's just stupid. I love Jack. I don't want another husband. I just need him to be less attentive!_

 _Less attentive. That's it. I have to hold off on romance with him._

 _Make it a once- a- month kind of thing. That's normal, right? Once a month._

 _How am I going to do that?_

 _I'll just be cold and unfeeling. . . . while still be loving._

 _Obviously, I want him to know that I love him. I just won't want to actually MAKE love to him._

 _I'll use Aaron as an excuse. That he makes me so tired I can't even think of romance._

 _Having a baby comes in handy!_

 _. . . . . I just don't want another one soon._

* * *

"You sure you're okay?" Jack looked over at Elizabeth who was sitting two seats away and interrupted her thoughts. The baby, who had woken up, was strapped into the seat between them and busily smashing the rattle side of Julie's face into one of his arm rests.

 _Oh, this is stupid. Jack's always going to be attentive and I can't pretend to be tired twenty- nine days out of every month._

 _Or can I?_

"I'm just tired," Elizabeth piped up a little too eagerly.

"Really? I thought you slept pretty well last night." He gave her an odd look. "You don't seem tired at all."

"Oh I am." She sighed deeply for emphasis.

Jack looked as if he was going to say something, but then decided instead to concentrate on Aaron who had slumped forward and was now chewing on one of the seat's armrests which he had quickly covered in baby drool.

"Let's just lean back and relax until lift-off", Elizabeth added with an exaggerated yawn before closing her eyes and settling against her seat back.

 _That wasn't so hard. I just_ _have to do that over the next seven hundred and thirty days_ , she reasoned.

 _I bet he wants a break from romance anyway._

 _He'll probably appreciate that we won't be having sex that often. Too much of a good thing can be a turn-off._

With her eyes closed, Elizabeth didn't notice when Jack unbuckled his harness and leaned against the middle seat, but she heard him speaking softly in her ear.

"I love you. Don't worry about the lift-off. In an hour, we'll be in our quarters. Where we will spend the next four months in privacy enjoying our time together. Think about that instead of the lift-off", he said suggestively.

Jack gave her a quick kiss on the lips and then returned his attention to Aaron who had moved from tasting the seat arm to trying to eat his harness. "Hey, little fella', what happened to your rattle?"

* * *

It had been less than a minute since Elizabeth had closed her eyes and pretended to be settling her nerves. Pretend was the optimal word. Her nerves were the farthest thing from settled. Especially after Jack's comment and kiss.

 _Soooo, apparently I was wrong about thinking he would appreciate a break from romance._

 _I will just have to be indifferent to him._ _Remain cold. Unfeeling._

 _How can I be indifferent to him when we're sharing a ten-foot by ten-foot room?!_

 _He's one-hundred and eighty-pounds of the most well-proportioned attractive man I have ever seen._

 _Especially when he takes his shirt off._

 _And his hair is messed up._

 _And he's lifting something so his arm muscles are really obvious._

 _And he's looking at me._

 _Or even when he's not looking at me. In fact, when he's not looking at me and doesn't even know I'm watching him, it's quite sexy._

The more Elizabeth thought about Jack, the more she realized that five packs of condoms – she never intended to use the free glow-in-the dark - wasn't going to be enough for the next two years.

 _I just have to tell him._

 _Stop being a ninny._

 _How bad can it be?_

* * *

"You what?!" Jack bellowed.

Elizabeth immediately wondered if maybe she shouldn't have told him what had happened at her doctor's appointment a few days earlier.

"Shhhhh! Don't say anything! I'm not allowed on the flight without it."

"That's WHAT you forgot?! That's what you've been trying to remember?!" he asked without lowering his voice.

Elizabeth nodded guiltily and then looked around to make sure they didn't have unwanted attention. "Quiet," she mumbled and moved her hands to remind him to lower his voice.

"You said that you thought it had something to do with baking! What does this have to do with baking?!"

Elizabeth winced. "Because I didn't want a bun in the oven. That's what you called it once."

Jack slapped his hand over his face. "I can't believe this."

"Now don't get upset. It's not so bad."

Jack looked at her incredulously. "Not so bad? We've got to get off this flight. We can't risk you getting pregnant again in space. It's too dangerous. Especially because we're not heading in the right direction! We're going _into_ deep space."

"We can't get off," she whispered hoarsely.

"Yes, we can."

"No, we can't."

"Of course we can," he said as he began to unbuckle. "The engines haven't started yet. We just have to tell them you're not medically cleared."

"We can't," she repeated emphatically and then paused to wait for a flight attendant to pass their row.

"Why not?"

"They'd make _me_ get off, but not you and Aaron. Dr. Fletcher already listed him as a scientific pediatric study so I could get that extra weight allowance in cargo for his stuff," she reminded Jack. "He's on official orders now and so are you. You two can't just decide that you aren't going to go. I'm the only one of the three of us that's listed as an _optional_ family member. You two are going to Coal Valley whether I go or not."

She saw by Jack's reaction, that he knew she was right. If he chose to get off the flight at this point, he'd be in violation of official orders. Which meant the end of his career. And possible jail time. She'd rather give up sex than have him in jail.

"How could you forget?"

"I've been on the bi-monthly pill and –"

"Wait. Did you bring them with you?" he interrupted hopefully.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No. Because the last one ran out next week anyway and I meant to get the birth control device implanted. I just got busy."

"She dropped it on the floor? The device?"

"Yes."

"Couldn't she just pick it up?"

"It's tiny! It's not like it's some huge thing getting implanted in me! You want her to have been scrounging around on the floor looking for it?"

"Why not?!" Jack blurted out. "You could have helped her look for it."

"Gotten down on the floor in my paper gown and crawled around on my hands and knees?"

"Yes. And then she could have popped it into your hip or whatever."

Elizabeth gave him a disagreeable look. "Only if you wanted me to be implanted with an unsterile chip that may have been damaged when it hit the floor."

"You probably had enough time to wait for her to get another one." Jack grumbled.

"I didn't think I did."

"How long would it have taken?"

"I don't know exactly," Elizabeth answered with a tone of disgust. She didn't like where this conversation was going. Or had been going.

"She just had to go down the hall or whatever. You could have been a bit late for Aaron's appointment. Why didn't you just wait?"

Elizabeth huffed. "I had a lot going on. I didn't want Aaron to be barred from the flight. He needed his appointment to be cleared. Stop interrogating me. I'm not a criminal and I didn't commit a crime."

"Technically, you did. You boarded this flight on false paperwork."

"What are you going to do? Arrest me?" she challenged.

"I think that would have the opposite effect of what we want to happen," he said coldly and with raised eyebrows. "You in handcuffs and under my authority? It would be a bit too provocative I think."

Elizabeth felt her cheeks redden as she pictured the image. "Oh, hush," she muttered.

Jack gently lifted Aaron's face off of the armrest. "Hand me his pacifier."

Elizabeth pulled the silicone soother out of her pocket and maneuvered it into her son's mouth before the boy could return to mauling the support between the seats which apparently tasted better than his harness.

"We are not having another one in space," Jack said under his breath.

"At the rate you're going, we're never having another one," she muttered back bitterly.

Jack ignored her retort and tried to think reasonably. Sensibly. Like a man who hadn't just been told that he was not going to be able to be intimate with the woman he loved for the next two years unless he was willing to risk having a baby in space.

"I can't believe you forgot. You remembered to sell the mini-transporter but this . .. THIS you forgot?!"

"Yes, I forgot. I forgot," she grumbled.

"You remembered my dry cleaning for Pete's sake!" he said in bafflement. "I could have done without a few shirts."

"Well you are anyway because I used some of your weight allowance and left some of your shirts behind," she shot back before she realized it probably wasn't a good idea to bring up that fact on top of the other larger problem.

"What are we going to do?"

"About your shirts?"

"No, not about my shirts," he replied in exasperation. "About the more pressing problem of how we are going to deal with not having another little Acorn for the next two years. Because as much as I love Acorn and am glad we have -–"

"Acorn?! Excuse me, did you say acorn?"" a man passing down the aisle stopped and interrupted Jack. "Because I have a nut allergy. I was assured that there would be no nuts on this transporter. I was specifically told that I didn't need to worry about nuts." The worried man swiveled his head and spoke loudly to the other passengers. "Does anyone know if acorns cause an allergic reaction? These people brought acorns aboard the transporter."

"We did not bring acorns," Jack protested but his voice was barely heard above the buzz of chatter which had now started due to the other man's exclamation.

"You should be okay," a man two rows back chimed out as he stood up. "I'm a botanist. Acorns have never caused an adverse reaction in humans."

"Don't eat green ones, "a woman with her hair piled high in a bun spoke out. "They have tannin. Too much has been known to cause squirrels to act crazy. I study rodents," she added when people stared at her. "Rodents. Like squirrels and chipmunks and rats. And tannin isn't good for the digestive system," she added for good measure before turning to talk to the man next to her who seemed suddenly interested in her.

"Can someone get a flight attendant over here? This needs to be addressed."

"Why would they bring acorns aboard?" a woman in front of them asked. "The transporter provides all our food."

"If I had known we could bring our own food, I would have brought my jerky," a burly man spoke out.

"I'm allergic to shellfish. Did they bring shellfish?" a petite woman called out.

"We do not have acorns or shellfish." Jack stood partially up in his seat and addressed the other passengers in a firm but impatient voice. "I was referring to our son."

"Your son is a nut?"

"No, our son is not a nut! His name is Aaron Daniel. We call him Acorn." Jack announced and then sat back down in a huff and clean indication that the discussion of the topic was over.

* * *

Elizabeth waited five seconds to allow the other passengers to stop staring in their direction and whispering about their son's "stupid" nickname, and for Jack to cool down before looking at him.

"As I was saying before we were interrupted", he told her. "I love you. And I love Aaron, but we have a problem. What are we going to do for the next two years? Or until we can get another transporter to bring us something. That's at least five or six months."

"I've got it handled."

"You handled it?" His eyes narrowed in confusion. "When?"

"While you were in the waiting area."

"You handled it while I was in the waiting area just now?"

"Yes."

"What?" he asked wryly. "Did you go to the ladies' restroom and perform a hysterectomy on yourself?"

"Don't be stupid," she hissed and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Take a DIY course on vasectomies? Because I'm telling you right now that I'm not going for that."

"Hush. Look." Elizabeth reached under her seat and pulled out her handbag. She held open the sides, so Jack could see the contents inside.

"A toothbrush and toothpaste?" he questioned in bafflement.

"No, not that," she said hastily. "Under that. Look." She moved aside her dental care regime and showed him the recently acquired packets.

Jack looked less than thrilled at the contents of her bag.

"I hope that's a magical bag and those things multiple."

 **Up Next: Chapter 67.**


	67. Chapter 67-Lift Off

**CHAPTER 67 – LIFT OFF**

Lift-off had been how Elizabeth remembered it from her first trip into space. She could sum it up on one word. Awful.

She had tried to turn her head to keep an eye on Aaron but the pressure of leaving Earth was too much.

Just before leaving the planet, she and Jack had Velcro-ed Aaron's astro-mittens and helmet onto his suit, taken away his pacifier and rattle - much to the baby's bewilderment, and pushed the button to activate the suit. If all went according to plan, the suit which had been made to his exact specifications would keep his body protected from the intense G-Forces.

Less than ten minutes after lift-over, the worst was over. The oppressive G forces was gone. Not just the pressure from the speeding flight. But _all_ physical pressure.

By the time Elizabeth could move her head, had managed to take a breath without pain, and had swallowed to keep her breakfast down in her stomach, Jack was already taking the helmet off of Aaron.

"How is he?" she asked. Her ponytail was floating straight-up from the back of her head. An obvious indication that the artificial gravity hadn't been turned on yet.

"Better than me," a pale-faced Jack replied. "I feel like vomiting."

"I already did," she noted dryly. "I kept my mouth closed."

"I appreciate that," Jack replied in disgust.

"He seems perfect," he added as he looked at Aaron and gave the boy a big grin. "I'll leave him strapped in until gravity's on."

"Are you sure he's okay? Feel his skull," a worried Elizabeth instructed but then didn't bother to wait for Jack to do it.

She quickly placed her palms on Aaron's tiny head, and began moving her fingers through his fine dark hair in an amateur attempt to determine if his fontanel had changed in size.

"What are you feeling for? You have no idea what you're feeling for? You're just feeling it without having any idea why," Jack noted comically. "It's a skull. What do you expect to feel? If his skull was smooshed in, I think we would have noticed it in his face."

"Hush. A mother knows when something's wrong." Elizabeth continued to gently rub her hands in her son's soft hair.

"Like you knew that he had an awful disease that one time because his skin had turned orange, and you insisted that I use the patrol vehicle's siren while we rushed him to the doctor's office? And then it turned out that it was just the color from his onesie was bleeding because it was cheap quality."

Elizabeth shot him a dirty look. "I told you that any mother could make that mistake."

"I told you not to buy baby outfits at a flea market stall," he reminded her with a knowing smile.

"It was an artists' boutique!"

"Artists can't be expected to know how to dye fabrics? How hard can it be?" he questioned cynically. "They can make a onesie to look like a carrot but they can't keep the color from bleeding the first time it's worn?"

"They were hand-made, one-of-a-kind, nature-inspired cute outfits," she replied haughtily.

"Thank goodness we didn't buy a brown one or people would have ended up questioning Aaron's parentage," he said with an amusing shake of his head.

"There wasn't a brown one," she replied with a huff even though she secretly agreed with Jack that the onesies had turned out to be overpriced crap. "I said nature-inspired. Not dirt inspired."

"Well then it's a good thing we didn't buy the green one. People would have thought his father was the Jolly Green Giant . . . or a pea pod."

Elizabeth bit her bottom lip and avoided looking at Jack _. I'm definitely not going to mention that I DID buy the green one when he wasn't looking. All the snaps fell off the first time I tried to put it on Aaron._

 _I should have known the couple manning the booth weren't professional artists. Who spells Van Gogh without the gh?!_

A flight attendant came down the aisle, glancing at each passenger to make sure they were okay. She carried a small defibrillator with her on the off chance that one of the passengers hadn't handled the take-off well. Although considering that everyone had undergone physical examinations and evaluations, the chances of needing the device to restart someone's heart was minimal. Which might be why the flight attendant seemed more concerned with making sure that no one vomited on her uniform and whether one of the attractive young men in aisle 5A was single and looking for a girlfriend.

"He seems okay," Elizabeth told Jack in mixture of surprise and extreme relief when she finished opening the top of Aaron's suit and reaching in her hands to feel his ribs. Gently poking around.

Aaron giggled at Elizabeth's touch and he kicked out his feet in laughter.

"That's our little space-traveler," Jack said proudly and gave the boy a quick kiss. "He was made for space."

"He was made _in_ space. Geez, you don't think he's destined to be some sort of space explorer, do you?" Elizabeth asked with a start. "Because he was _conceived_ in space?"

"What?" Jack narrowed her eyes and gave her the look. The look that silently said 'are you crazy?' Or perhaps the look that meant he was thinking 'For a smart woman sometimes you said the oddest things'. Elizabeth was never quite sure about some of the looks Jack gave her.

"What?" she responded defensively. "What's wrong with my question? Maybe he's destined to have a yearning to be in space because that's where he was conceived and was partially formed," she added with confidence.

Jack gave her a sideways look. "Are babies conceived in the back seat of a car destined to be used car salesman?"

"Hush," she ordered him. _Okay, so maybe it was a stupid question on my part._

"Are babies conceived in a recliner destined to be Lazy Boys?" Jack asked while trying not to smile. "Because we've done quite a bit of making out in our recliner. I'm kind of looking forward to it when we get back to Earth."

"But not if our children are destined to be male and lazy," he added with a shake of his head. "Definitely not then. We want productive children. No lazy boys for us."

"Hmmm," he continued pensively while Elizabeth pretended to ignore him. "If we conceive the next one in the study, we'd be guaranteed a studious child. . . . . But what if he or she was conceived in a _recliner_ in the _study?._ . . . Then we'd get a studious lazy boy. Maybe a boy who _studies HOW_ to be _lazy_? Definitely not a good idea. Let's make a note of that – no conceiving a child in the study on the recliner."

Elizabeth glared at him but Jack continued musing about places to conceive children. In fact, he seemed to find the topic a humorous distraction while waiting for them to be released to go to their quarters.

A pensive expressed crossed Jack's face as if he was pondering a universally perplexing question. "Are babies conceived on a staircase destined to be step-children?" he asked with a straight face but a gleam in his eyes.

"Because that's just not right," he added vehemently. "Forcing young innocent children to be step-children just because their parents couldn't contain their passion until they got upstairs. Make another note – no conceiving a child on a staircase."

"If you don't stop teasing me, I'm never going to kiss you again," Elizabeth said calmly.

"Impossible. You love me too much."

A smiled escaped Elizabeth, causing Jack to smile, and Aaron – unsure why everyone was smiling – decided to gleefully join in.

Elizabeth leaned back in her seat and then took a deep breath.

As she waited for the passengers to be released to their cabins, she remembered her first flight when the uniformed staff had treated her as if she was a first-class passenger after take-off. Back then, everyone on staff recognized her last name of Thatcher, and had been keen on keeping her happy. Bringing her a crystal glass and cool bottle of water to freshen mouth and throat, and even a using silver tongs to place a warm damp towelette in her palms.

"Remember that towelette that I got on our first trip?" She kept her eyes closed as she asked Jack.

"It was so refreshing. Eucalyptus," she added with a wistful sigh before thinking about Aaron and his first lift-off. "I just don't want him to get a job where he ends up leaving us. Like a space explorer. Now I know how our parents must feel with us leaving Earth."

"I don't think you need to worry about him leaving us for about two decades."

"That's not that far away!" Elizabeth argued as she sat up straighter in her seat and looked at Jack.

"Technically it's about twenty years. So, yes, it is far away. I thought you were the one that was good at math," an amused Jack told her.

"Not when it doesn't benefit me," she replied smugly.

"Aaah. So that's how math works." Jack acted as if he was just realizing an important fact that had always eluded him. "All this time being married to a teacher, and I never knew math worked that way."

"Yep,"

"And when there was a sixty percent sale on winter coats, then math benefits you?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Exactly."

"When I asked you'd why you got a speeding ticket for doing forty miles an hour in a thirty mile an hour zone, and you said that you didn't _feel_ like you were going that fast, was that math not working in your favor?"

 _Darn. He always remembers that time._

 _My one speeding ticket on my way to pick up Aaron from my mother's and I would happen to get stopped by one of his buddies._

 _It was totally unnecessary for the officer to message Jack and tell him that I tried to flirt my way out of the ticket! I meant that I wanted him AND his wife to come to dinner. Not just him!_

"How long do you think until they turn on the artificial gravity?" Elizabeth asked as she ignored answering Jack's question and instead swiveled her head around and looked up and down the aisle. Several passengers had pulled out their laptop computers and were busily pecking away at the keyboard.

 _Scientist. Engineer. Fitness Instructor. Bewildered Husband_. Elizabeth mentally tried to guess the occupations of the passengers from their actions. The "bewildered husband" was wiping sweat from his brow, staring nervously out the window, and then glancing at his wife who had already taken a small plastic contraption from her pocket and was intently poking at it.

"Probably just a few more minutes."

"That lift off was awful. Can't they invent a better way to leave Earth's gravity?"

"We don't have to do it for another two years," Jack replied with his own sense of relief. Even though some people didn't mind the lack of gravity, it made him feel out of sorts. He was used to orderly dependable things in life. His law enforcement experience relied on forensics, following patterns, and deducing the likelihood of actions. It didn't involve having his feet trying to float out from under him.

 _Two years. I almost forgot that we'll be gone from Earth for two years,_ Elizabeth thought anxiously.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be mad at me," she implored remembering that prior to lift-off the couple hadn't yet resolved their problem or their hostility. "About the other thing. Please."

"I'm not," Jack admitted with a sigh. "I love you and I know that this has been a lot for you to take on this week. Finding out we're moving. The appointments. Getting things in order for our trip. I shouldn't have gotten upset with you. It's just –", his voice trailed off.

"I know," she admitted glumly. "If I was going to forget something, it should have been something less important."

The two sat in silence. Each wondering what to do.

Aaron Daniel sat between them. Oblivious to his parents' dilemma, he managed to pull off one of his mittens. It slipped from his tiny fingers but instead of dropping to the floor like he expected, it floated in front of him.

His eyes widened and his mouth gaped open as the object was suspended in the air.

Elizabeth giggled at the boy's expression of awe.

A second later, the mitten fell to the transporter's floor.

Grateful for the initiation of the transporter's artificial gravity, Elizabeth picked up the mitten and handed it to her son.

"Gravity," she told him with a smile. "Gravity is the force that pulls things to the Earth. And we are without the real gravity of Earth for the next two years. Welcome to space, Aaron Daniel. It's where mommy and daddy fell in love and made you."

"AT THIS TIME, ALL PASSENGERS MAY UNBUCKLE YOUR SEAT BELTS", the voice came over the intercom. "PLEASE CHECK YOUR ON-BOARD ELECTRONIC PASSES WHICH SHOULD NOW CONTAIN YOUR ASSIGNED LIVING COMPARTMENTS. YOUR LUGGAGE HAS ALREADY BEEN MOVED TO YOUR QUARTERS. MEAL TIMES ARE POSTED IN YOUR QUARTERS AS WELL AS RULES AND REGULATIONS. WELCOME TO SPACE. WE'LL BE TOGETHER FOR THE NEXT FOUR MONTHS. WE WISH YOU ALL ENJOYABLE TRAVELING."

 _Twenty minutes down_ , Elizabeth thought as the passengers began standing up. _One million, fifty-one thousand, one hundred and eighty minutes to go until we're back on Earth._

 _Twenty condoms, and one million, fifty-one thousand, one hundred and eighty minutes of close proximity to a sexy husband that I can't avoid._

 _I wish I wasn't so good at math,_ she grumbled to herself as she gathered her small handbag.

 _And how do I get THIS math to work in my favor?!_

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 68.**

 **Dear Readers: Welcome back to our space!**


	68. Chapter 68 - New Quarters

**CHAPTER 68-NEW QUARTERS**

Elizabeth and Jack's numbers EK-0951984 and DL-1041981 were posted on the wall beside the door to their quarters just as they had been on their last two flights. But this time, a third now-familiar number was also posted with theirs. Baby Thornton's number.

Elizabeth's old Louis Vuitton bag, Jack's worn service-issued duffel bag, and a bag decorated with pictures of baby ducks, were all in a line on the floor outside the door waiting for them to move in.

Elizabeth, with the baby held in one arm, used her other to pick up her bag. She gave Jack a hopeful smile. "Here we go."

When the door slid open revealing their small room, Jack allowed Elizabeth to enter first and then he picked up the other two bags.

He casually moved around her when she stopped walking just one foot into the room.

He heaved the bags onto a top bunk and then reached for Elizabeth's and threw it onto another bunk.

"It's not ideal being back to bunks. I forgot how narrow they were. But it's just for four months. We'll have to figure out how Aaron's going to sleep. . . . I guess that's what this panel's for," he noted as he looked at a six-foot long by two-foot wide piece of plastic composite which was leaning against a lower bunk.

The board was about half an inch in thickness and reminded Jack of something that would be used to make a deck's side rails. "I guess it's a bed rail. Luckily someone looking at the manifest noticed his age. One less thing for us to worry about."

Jack crouched down and examined the edges of one of the lower bunks. "Yeah," he remarked as he saw where it could be attached. "Looks easy enough."

* * *

Ten seconds later the board was affixed to the length of the bunk. Jack pulled on it to ensure that it was secure, and then stood back and looked at his handiwork.

"It just snapped in and then locked in place," he unnecessarily explained. "Not bad. It's sturdy. We can just reach over and put him in and out. It should be okay for the next four months. I don't think he'll be able to crawl over it. And if he does, we can keep some pillows on the floor in case he falls. It's a short distance so he won't get hurt. He'll probably think it's fun."

Jack reached over the board and pressed his hands onto the mattress. Feeling the softness, he anticipated how his son would like sleeping on it. "It's not as enclosing as a crib. It's much longer so he'll have more room than he's used to. And he'll like having us in the same room as him."

Jack quickly looked at the other bunks and chuckled. "He was only in his own room for two months, and now he's back with us. So much for separate bedrooms."

"Elizabeth?"

"Ah, geez, Elizabeth, what's wrong?" he asked when he turned and saw her standing still just inside the entrance to the small room. She hadn't moved in the last thirty seconds.

He swiftly moved towards her, took Aaron from her arms, and then, with one strong arm, held her tight. "Why the tears?"

"It's – It's –" Her crying choked her off from saying anything more.

"Shh. It's okay. I'm not mad. It's okay that you forgot the birth control. And Acorn will like sharing a room for us. And bunk beds aren't so bad. What's wrong?"

Elizabeth wiped the wetness from her cheeks and tried to breathe steadily. "I'm okay," she said. But then she took one more look at the room and the tears began falling again.

"It's so sterile!" she wailed.

Jack looked flabbergasted. He scanned the room. It was like on their other two flights. Four bunks. Four lockers. A door to the shared bathroom. Of course, it was sterile. They were on a transporter going into deep space. They knew what the quarters would look like.

"I don't understand," he helplessly said in confusion.

"I – I – I had a couch with pillows and a faux fur blanket, and a fireplace," she hiccupped. "And an antique coffee table made of beautiful pine. We had a tub," she continued through her sniffles. "And we didn't have to share it with anyone."

"We had a real home," she managed to get out before collapsing on the lower bunk which didn't have the baby rail.

"But – but – but" he sputtered. "You knew what we were getting into. We've done it before."

Elizabeth wiped away more tears. "I know," she said in an attempt at bravery. "It just hit me. That's all. It's so different from our home. . . . We had a swing on the front porch. We had a leather recliner."

"But we had a home in Coal Valley before that and it didn't have all those things," he said as he wracked his brain for something to make her feel better.

Jack put the baby into his new "crib" and sat down next to Elizabeth. The mattress sinking down under his weight.

"I just got used to our place in Liskow. It was a real home. With rooms. We had painted the baby's room, and the kitchen smelled so good when I made muffins. And I was always telling you to wipe your feet when you came in from working in the yard," she reminded him with a sniffle. "There's no reason for you to wipe your feet here. It's just floor coming into floor." She said the word 'floor' like it was bad word. "All clean and sterile. . . . We HAD a real family home."

"Your mom always said it was small," Jack reminded her in an effort to make her feel better about leaving the adorable home in Liskow thousands of miles behind them.

"It was snug and cozy," she said with a sniffle.

"The roof leaked."

"Not often. And you fixed it."

"Twice," Jack reminded her.

"Twice isn't so bad," she replied, but it sounded more like an attempt at convincing him rather than actual confidence that a twice leaking roof which had almost damaged the hard wood floors hadn't been a headache.

"The neighbor's dog was always leaving a mess in our yard."

"He promised to clean it up when you threatened to arrest him."

"The squirrels were deranged."

"Too much green tannin," Elizabeth explained. "Maybe we could have trained them to behave."

"You can't train squirrels."

"We could have made friends with them."

An incredulous Jack looked at her. "They weren't Chip and Dale."

"Other than the squirrels, the house was perfect," Elizabeth noted sadly, causing Jack to worry that she would start crying again.

"It was drafty."

"I liked the curtains billowing."

"Even when the windows were closed?" Jack asked skeptically.

Elizabeth nodded helplessly. "Fresh air is healthy," she offered.

"The grass needed mowing."

"Only in the summer."

"I had to rake leaves."

"Only in the fall."

"It snowed."

"It was beautiful."

Jack stopped trying to think of complaints.

He and Elizabeth sat quietly on the narrow bunk mattress. A small pile of sheets was on one end ready for them to make up their sleeping spaces.

"I liked the leather recliner," Jack admitted with a tinge of longing. "It was comfortable. Putting my feet up."

Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

"When I would walk home and turn the corner of our block and then see you swinging on the porch waiting for me, I always smiled. . . . The couch was nice too," he said. "We made love on it a couple times. More than a couple."

Despite her unhappiness at her new surroundings, Elizabeth's mouth turned up slightly in a small smile at his words.

"You did always have the house nice and cozy," Jack continued. I liked coming home. I liked working in the yard. Hanging out in the greenhouse and then bringing you dandelions -" he said wistfully.

"And I'd put them in a vase," she finished for him.

"You said they were the prettiest flowers you ever saw."

The couple took a deep sigh. Almost exactly in unison.

The only other sound in the room was the baby who was smacking his hands against his bed rail as if trying to figure out how best to escape.

"Coal Valley's not as sterile anymore," Jack began hopefully. "It's been three years since we first showed up there. A lot's changed. There are more people now, more things, more –" his voice trailed off as he tried to think of what to say.

* * *

There was no sugar-coating it. Coal Valley was primitive compared to their home on Earth.

Elizabeth wiped away her last tear, slapped her hands on her thighs in determination, and stood up.

"Okay, that's done. Tears are out of the way," she announced. " Let's move forward."

She moved the short distance towards the opposite bunk and took hold of Aaron who was bent over the rail. "First order of business, we need to get a wider bed rail because your son's about to launch himself over this one. Then we put the sheets on our beds and unpack."

"Elizabeth?" Jack called out her name in a voice that always made her heart melt. She stopped walking and turned to look back at him. When their eyes met, he spoke again. "I love you. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being my wife."

"You're welcome," she replied. "And you're stuck with me. There are no divorces in outer space."

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you saying if there were divorces in outer space, you'd divorce me?"

"Don't be silly, then one of us would have to change quarters," she added pleasantly.

She smiled at Jack, who still looked momentarily stunned by her utterance of the "D" word. "I'm just teasing, silly. You know I'm never leaving you. We're in this together."

Jack relaxed now that he no longer worried that his marriage might be in danger.

He stood up, took Aaron from Elizabeth's arms, and scanned the small room looking for a suitable place to put the baby. Finally, he simply placed the boy on the floor. "How about you send a message to the quartermaster and see if we can get a wider rail, and I start making the berths up?"

* * *

The message to the quartermasters took only a few seconds to send.

Elizabeth knew that the crew was properly still busy getting passengers settled so she didn't wait for a response. She closed her messenger and began helping Jack tuck a sheet under one of the thin mattresses.

"You know, this trip is going to be a piece of cake compared to our last two voyages," Elizabeth announced as she shoved a pillow into a fresh cotton case.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

Aaron Daniel Thornton ignored his parents. He wasn't hungry or tired, and he had a clean diaper so nothing the adults said interested him. Besides, he was too fascinated by the small laser beams he saw along the edge of the floor and above the doors to even try to comprehend what his favorite people were saying. He rested on his bottom and placed his hands on the floor, contemplating crawling towards the pretty colors of red and green.

Jack unfolded another crisp white sheet and handed an end to Elizabeth. "Look at him," Jack said with a nod over his shoulder at the baby who was sitting still. "He doesn't even know he's in outer space. For all he knows, this is just like being on Earth. Aaron's first trip is going to be down-right boring compared to what we've been through."

"You're right." Elizabeth smiled and returned her attention to the berth. "What trouble can the little one possibly get into here in a sterile boring environment?"


	69. Chapter 69 - Oscar Wilde

**CHAPTER 69 – OSCAR WILDE**

"Can you believe we're doing this again? I mean, I knew I'd be going back to Coal Valley after my sabbatical, but I can't believe you are back here with me." Abigail smiled. She moved about the kitchen counting cans and making notes in her electronic pad.

"I was as surprised as you," Elizabeth replied. She was sitting on a stool at one of the room's large counters. A cup of warm tea was in front of her as the two women caught up with each other on what had been happening over the last few months.

"Tell me more about your family's reaction."

"Before or after they tried to bribe me into leaving Jack, and tried to bribe Jack into leaving me?"

"They didn't?!"

Elizabeth took a bite of a croissant and nodded. "They did."

Abigail chuckled. "I can't say I don't understand. I'm going to love having Aaron Daniel around to spoil."

"Jack doesn't want him spoiled. He said he needs to be tough and outdoorsy like him. Of course, he says that about two seconds before he jumps up when he hears the littlest whimper from the baby. Then he vaults across the room to cuddle him. So, our son is going to grow up to be a tough, outdoorsy manly-man who loves cuddles and being held and sung to every night to fall asleep."

"That's the best kind," Abigail replied with a smile. She pulled open a deep metal drawer and took out a box labeled Forks. 3 Tine. Quantity: 50, and then reached for another one. "How's married life? Earth's got to have been a lot different from space for you two. Your first time together in a normal world."

"It's wonderful," Elizabeth replied with her own smile.

Elizabeth hadn't told her best friend about forgetting to get the birth control device implanted. She knew she could trust Abigail to keep a secret but it was still a little too raw and personal to divulge.

"Jack's checking out the transporter now. Seeing what new things have been added to the fitness center, meeting other passengers. He took Aaron with him. He's a proud daddy. He'll start his official rounds tomorrow."

"Did you meet your suite mates yet?"

Elizabeth nodded. "The mother's a civil engineer; her name's Linda. The father's an agriculture something or other. Once again, everyone seems to be a scientist or math person except for me and Jack –"

"And me", Abigail interjected.

"Thank God for you," Elizabeth told her. She took a sip of her tea and then continued to tell Abigail about the people with whom she'd be sharing a bathroom. "Their twin girls are eight. Susie and Joyce. They're sweet. They came running through the bathroom all excited when they thought we had brought chipmunks and sea creatures with us."

Abigail stopped arranging trays on the counter and gave Elizabeth a puzzled look.

"Before lift-over." Elizabeth reminded her friend. "Acorn. The man with the allergies. Everyone discussing what they thought we had brought onboard. You must have heard about it."

Abigail chuckled. "I forgot how fast rumors spread on this transporter. By the time it got to me, I had heard that a couple had brought a suitcase full of nuts and an aquarium of shellfish. Someone mentioned a possible octopus."

"The girls were quite disappointed when I explained that we hadn't brought any animals with us. I told them to check with one of the scientists. Maybe there's something interesting in one of the labs."

"Are you going to teach on the flight?" Abigail asked as she lost count and then had to re-count the trays and utensils.

"I don't know," Elizabeth said with a shrug. "I'm not even sure how many children are aboard the flight. And there's a teacher in Coal Valley; my replacement is still there. I don't want to step on anyone's toes."

Abigail gave Elizabeth a knowing grin. "Hmm. You and Jack are without pressing duties. On a transporter in a private family room. Four months of no household chores. Two girls next door who I'm sure would love to babysit. I bet that you and Jack can find ways to entertain yourselves."

Elizabeth bit her lip and averted looking at Abigail before quickly changing the topic. "What's for dinner tonight?"

* * *

When the door slid open to the Thornton family quarters, Elizabeth looked up and smiled at the men in her life.

She had left the kitchen to allow Abigail time to get ready for the dinner hour and was now sitting on one of the lower bunks. Deciding to let Jack and Aaron finish their tour, Elizabeth had used the time to write in her journal until they returned. "How was your walk?"

"Excellent. Your son is the talk off the ship," Jack said proudly.

"Every mother's goal," she teased but nevertheless felt proud herself as she looked at her adorable son.

Jack set the boy down in his bunk and handed him his rattle to keep him occupied.

"The transporter's had some updates since we were on it. New automated doors which are voice-activated as well as motion-activated. New gym equipment. They added a trampoline to be used for exercise. The pool's the same but I was thinking it will be great to have to teach Acorn how to swim."

"We don't have a swimsuit for him," Elizabeth reminded her husband.

"He'll go naked."

Elizabeth chuckled. "He's not potty trained. He can't swim in a pool if he's going to add something to the water."

"I'll get one of the scientists to give us some kind of waterproof fabric, and the quartermasters can make him a swim suit from it to keep his diaper from getting soaked."

"Did you forget that the pool is a current pool? The poor thing will get pushed against the ends. He'll be swallowing water and floundering about. He'll probably think he's surrounded by amniotic fluid. He'll be like 'what they heck? How did I end up back in mommy's belly? With Daddy. How in the world did Daddy end up in Mommy's belly with me?!"

Jack gave her a look of disdain but Elizabeth kept talking. "And then he'll be like "Whoa, do I need to push out of here again?!""

"I'll ask them to turn off the current when we use it," an undeterred Jack replied.

"I'll have him swimming before we arrive at Coal Valley."

"He can't even walk yet! He just learned how to crawl," she good-naturedly protested. "How about we let him get used to moving on the ground before we make him aquatic?

"I learned how to swim early. Swimming is one of the most important skills a person can learn."

"More important than walking?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Could be. If he lives on an island."

Elizabeth scoffed. "He's not going to Hawaii. He's going to Coal Valley. I think we're safe from being surrounded by water and needing to swim to survive."

"It's still an important skill," a determined Jack announced. "He's going to be like me. I can tell already."

Elizabeth shook her head in amusement and wondered how Jack would be if they had a daughter instead of a son.

 _Or in ADDITION to a son._

 _A little girl with brown hair. He'd probably spoil her rotten. Just like he does with Aaron. And treat her like a princess. A princess that can be a law enforcement officer._

 _Stop! Don't go there,_ she reminded herself with a start when she realized that she was pleasantly imagining a scene of Jack with a daughter _._

 _No more babies for now!_

* * *

Three hours later, the family left the Cafeteria and casually strolled back to their quarters. Elizabeth carried their sleeping son against her chest. His tiny head resting on one of her shoulders.

"Is he drooling?" she asked Jack as she gently moved her head to the side and tried to see if her shirt had a spot of spit.

"Nope. You're clean," Jack replied as he took a half-step behind her. "He's too tired. Even his drool is too tired to run out of his mouth."

It had been a long day. It was hard to imagine that just twelve hours earlier, they had been in the Thatcher mansion in Hamilton celebrating a family birthday. Now, Earth was just a spot in the distance.

"I'm exhausted myself," Jack admitted when they entered their room. "Let's just leave him in his clothes to sleep. They're comfortable enough."

Elizabeth lay the baby in his berth and then paused to look at him. His dark hair was ruffled and one of his cheeks had a red splotch from resting against her shoulder. She smiled when, in his sleep, he moved a thumb into his mouth and began sucking on it.

She was still standing there looking at him when Jack came out of bathroom after brushing his teeth. "It's empty. Better get in there before the neighbors get in. There are four of them."

* * *

"Jack?" Elizabeth asked in surprise a few minutes later when she came back to the main room after brushing her teeth and saw that he had already changed into shorts and a tee-shirt and crawled into one of the top bunks. "Aren't you going to put the mattresses on the floor for us?"

"Nah. I figure we'll each just take a bunk. You probably want the bottom one since you'll get up to feed him when he wakes."

Elizabeth's nose crinkled and her mouth frowned. "Don't you want to sleep together?"

"I'm okay. I thought you'd be tired too. It's been a really long day."

"Yeah, you're right," she replied in false agreement.

She reached up to his bunk and gave him a simple kiss goodnight. "We'll sleep together tomorrow night."

"Or whenever," he replied casually. "I'm just going to work on my computer for a bit. You can turn out the light if you want. I'm good with my screen. G'night."

Elizabeth gave him a frown at his response but he didn't seem to notice. _Or Whenever? Whenever? What the heck is that supposed to me_?

She thought about asking Jack what he meant but then realized that he probably didn't mean anything by it. He was simply tired like the rest of the small family.

* * *

Jack finished looking at the manifest on his computer and made some notes as to whom he had already met. He closed the device, set it on the shelf above his berth, and crawled under his blanket. There was the faint hum of the transporter's machinery but the room was otherwise quiet.

He wondered if Elizabeth was asleep. He hoped so. He hoped it would be this easy to go to bed for the next five months.

Jack had spent the afternoon figuring out how to deal with the 'problem'. There would be four months of flight time and then one month until the next scheduled transporter arrived and hopefully it contained a package from Julie.

Until then, Jack planned to be alone with Elizabeth on a limited basis. He was determined to avoid another space pregnancy. Which meant he had to avoid temptation. And since another name for temptation was Elizabeth, he needed to avoid her.

He tried not to think of a quote which Oscar Wilde, one of Elizabeth's favorite author, had once written, but it kept coming back to haunt him: _**T**_ _ **he only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. I can resist everything but temptation.**_ **  
**

 _No, no, no._ Jack told himself. _Resist. Resist! DON'T YIELD!_

 _ **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 70**_


	70. Chapter 70 -The Schedule

**CHAPTER 70 – THE SCHEDULE**

Two days later, Jack decided he needed help with resistance.

He had resisted Elizabeth before. But that had been years ago.

The first day that they had known each other, he had resisted the temptation to tell her that she was quite attractive for being such a bother.

The second day that they had known each other, he had resisted the temptation to tell her that she was actually not as spoiled as she had first seemed and that perhaps she'd be okay on the transporter if she toughed up a little.

By the end of the first week that they had known each other, he had resisted the temptation to reach out and move a loose tendril of hair behind her ear.

The second week they had known each other, he had resisted the temptation to hold her hand as they walked down the corridor next to each other.

By the third week that they had known each other, he had been resisting the temptation to kiss her for the first time, ignore the absurdity of his feelings, declare his love for her, and to make passionate love to her.

And then, after they had eventually held hands, and kissed, and laughed together, he had turned on her. Resisting her pull again. Telling her they should return to being friends. In those early days of their relationship, when he hadn't been so confident in their relationship and his insecurity made him question whether they had been right for each other, he had rejected her.

But it had been a long time since then.

He remembered back to their first flight when Elizabeth had a tried a variety of ways to 'innocently' make him think about her. There had been the tangling of her hair in her bathing suit strap and asking for his help. She had also dropped her panties and bra on the floor for him to pick up. Left the bathroom door ajar while she showered. Allowed him to think she had had a nightmare when in reality the only scary thought which she had had was that he wasn't going to kiss her. Let him think she was hurt when she had merely tapped her knee against the edge of the berth.

She had been adorable, well-mannered, casual, . . . and entirely beguiling. And not the least bit innocent when it came to getting him to desire her.

He smiled when he thought about her antics, and then smacked himself on the thigh to stop his grin. _Stop! Do not think of her being adorable. Resist the temptation._

If she reacted the same way now as she had then to his cool attitude, he was a goner. She would never put up with him withholding affection.

Her previous "innocent" attempts had turned him into a love-starved fool. He didn't want to think about what kind of pathetic defenseless mess he'd be in if she tried more forcefully to get his attention

The first flight to Coal Valley had been weeks and weeks of him resisting the temptation to pull her into a kiss. . . . and pull her into his bed. The fact that he was rarely alone with her because of sharing quarters with Seth and Carl had helped keep him from falling totally under her spell. Just as sharing quarters with Candy and Becca on the return voyage to Earth had lessened the opportunity for Elizabeth and Jack to be intimate.

Jack sat on his bunk and tried to think about something other than Elizabeth. But she kept coming to mind. From a few feet away, he could hear plinking sounds of hundreds of drops of liquid hitting the shower floor.

His wife was in there, separated by a thin wall, naked under a stream of water.

Jack needed roommates. That was clear to him. He needed someone to keep him from being alone with his wife for at least the next four months. He needed excuses.

Especially at night when she was dressed in skimpy clothing and lying horizontal on a mattress.

 _Wait! I have a roommate,_ he remembered with a start.

 _So what if he can't talk yet?_

 _So what if he doesn't understand the ways of the world?_

 _So what if he doesn't understand that in a marriage sometimes it's best if the husband and wife aren't left alone together?_

 _He's still our roommate._

"Little buddy, you're going to come in handy", he said happily as he looked over at his son playing on his enclosed berth.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Elizabeth, a towel wrapped around her damp body, asked when she came out of the shower room and saw Jack typing on his computer. Her wet hair made her look fresh and vibrant.

"Making up a schedule."

"Of what?"

"Of who will take the baby."

"What are you talking about?" she asked in confusion.

Elizabeth, unaware of Jack's overwhelming occupation with her naked body, dropped her towel on the floor and stood in front of her locker while she counted her panties to make sure that she had enough until laundry day.

Jack took a deep breath and put his hand to his forehead- much like a defendant on trial who has just listened to the testimony of an eyewitness – with perfect vision and the morals of a saint – placing him at the scene of a crime with a motive and with the murder weapon in his hand. He was a goner.

Finally, Elizabeth indifferently chose a lacy blue pair and slipped them on. If the act of putting on clothing should have made Jack find her less desirable, it had the opposite effect. He decided that lacy skimpy articles of underwear should be banned from space flight.

"I'm making a schedule," he said proudly as he avoided looking at her. "Of how we'll spend our time over the next four months. I think this is a great opportunity for us to spend time as a family."

"Of course, we will. We'll be the three Musketeers. There aren't too many places to get away from each other on a transporter. Which is actually good. You know how I feel about families spending time together. That gets lost so often."

"Yeah, right," Jack said agreeably. "That's what I was thinking."

"So, what's with a schedule?"

"Being on the transporter's not just a good time for the three of us to be together, it's also a good idea to spend one-on-one time with Acorn. To give _him_ attention."

"He gets a ton of attention already. Why do we need a schedule?"

"He's a growing boy. If we have a schedule of one-on-one time, he won't get forgotten."

"Forgotten?" Elizabeth said with raised eyebrows just before she slipped her legs into a pair of jeans. "I forgot birth _control_ , Jack. I did not forget giving _birth_ to a baby.

"I didn't mean that," he replied apologetically. "I'm just thinking that we should have a schedule – even if it unfortunately means that you and I can't spend as much time together – so that he gets some undivided attention and doesn't feel like a third wheel."

"Like a third wheel?" she scoffed. She sat on a lower berth and unrolled a pair of ankle-length white socks. Jack tried to ignore her toes which he suddenly found enticing. "He doesn't even know what a wheel is."

"My point exactly!" he told her. "There's a lot of stuff he doesn't know. Things I can teach him."

"You're going to teach him what a wheel is?" she asked with a short laugh.

"Sure. And other stuff."

"You're serious? You think we need more time with him? He's practically attached to my hip or breast as it is."

"That's you. I think more time with me might be good. So, I can teach him things."

"Like what a wheel is?" she teased.

"Forget the wheel," Jack muttered. "We'll spend time as a family obviously, but then I'll take him for a bit while you do whatever you'd like, and then when I'm on rounds, you'll take him."

"What if when you have him, it's my time to breastfeed him?" she challenged with slight amusement at Jack's obsession with being a good father.

"Good point. I'll need to know your times of that."

"How about whenever he's hungry," she laughed. She took off the jeans she had just put on and folded them before putting them back in her locker, from where she pulled out a pair of shorts. "I may go to the gym after all," she said as she stood in her panties and contemplated whether to exercise or relax.

'We'll work something out," Jack replied. He paused as he looked at her bare legs, and then quickly returned his gaze to his computer screen.

"Honestly, Jack, I don't think we need a schedule. Why don't we just spend time together unless one of us is busy. And we can have Abigail watch him when we want to spend time just the two of us or need a break."

"Because this is good parenting. He always needs to be with one of us. I read something about it. And one-on-one builds a natural bond of trust and enjoyment."

Elizabeth humorously narrowed her eyes at him. "Where? Where did you read this?" she challenged skeptically.

Jack waved his hand dismissively. "In some parenting thing."

"So, you want alone time with him? Without me?"

"Right. Like sometimes when we have down time, I'll take him for a walk and you can read or talk to friends –"

"What friends?" she interrupted as she put on a bra and fidgeted with the clasp. "I know Abigail. That's it."

"You'll meet people," he noted as he pretended not to notice that bra and panties were a matching set he had bought her because he found them incredibly sexy. "And when I'm on rounds, you'll be with Aaron."

"So, the only time you and I will be alone with each other is when he's sleeping?" Elizabeth slipped a tee-shirt over her head and then shook out her damp hair. "Fine, whatever."

"Um, that reminds me," Jack replied. "I was reading about a family bed. I think we should do that."

"A family bed? You're joking. We got him used to his own bed weeks ago."

"Right. But that was before I read this article that its good for babies to share a bed with their mothers and fathers. For at least a year."

"A YEAR?!"

"It's called nesting. Or something like that."

"Nesting?"

"Or something like that," he answered evasively without looking her in the eyes.

"Jack, have you looked at the size of this room? Hummingbirds have nests bigger than this room."

Jack scanned the room. It was small. Only about ten feet by ten feet, and with Elizabeth in it with him, it seemed even smaller. For some reason, her chest seemed more voluptuous. Jack felt the walls seem to close in on him.

"I think Aaron is fine sleeping by himself," she noted.

"No," Jack declared. "Aaron needs body contact when he sleeps. It's how many cultures do it."

"What cultures? Because not my culture. Maybe a culture of something in a petri dish, which is how small this room feels, but not my culture."

"He's your son and you don't want to have a family bed with him? Some family we turned out to be. So, we're only a family when it's convenient for you?"

Elizabeth looked at Jack like he had gone daft. "What has gotten into you? You were fine going to work and leaving him with me during the days. You were thrilled when he finally moved into his own room and he didn't wake you up when he wanted to nurse, or when he was sucking loudly on his thumb."

"That was before. Now, I've educated myself on how to be a better father. And it involves having Aaron as an integral part of our lives –"

"An integral part of our lives?" she interrupted. "Of course, he's an integral part of our lives! He's our _SON_."

"- and that means that whenever he's asleep one of us should be with him," Jack finished.

"Are you telling me that when he's taking an afternoon nap, one of us needs to be actually holding him?"

"Yes. It's important for his development."

"What development? How does sleeping in our arms during nap time help him learn his ABCs? Or how to count? Or crawl? Is he going to be sleep crawling?"

"It seems obvious that I'm the better parent here," a haughty Jack said with a tinge of disgust at Elizabeth's lack of parenting skills.

"And at night you want us all three to share a bed together? Here? In this cabin?" Elizabeth questioned. She stood up from the berth and began pulling her hair into a pony tail. When she lifted her arms, the tee shirt accentuated the outline of her breasts.

Jack shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Obviously we all three can't share a berth on the transporter, but I was thinking that we could alternate nights. One night, I sleep with Acorn, and the next night, you sleep with him. I'm putting it in the schedule. He'll alternate berths between us."

"What?!"

Elizabeth looked gob-stopped. "Jack, you're a great father. You don't need to worry about that. You're awesome and Acorn loves you. He doesn't need to sleep with one of us every night."

"He'll love it," Jack informed her.

"I know _he'll_ love it. I'm not worried about him. But he kicks and grabs my hair. And he snuggles so close that I get all hot. Don't get me wrong. I love him and I love when he falls asleep in my arms, but I don't want him sleeping with one of us _every_ night for the next FOUR MONTHS."

Jack looked at his son and then at his wife who hadn't yet put on her shorts. She had put on a tee-shirt without checking the name. His eyes were drawn to the words printed on the bottom edge of his shirt which was resting on Elizabeth's upper thighs. Barely covering her panties. PROPERTY OF JACK THORNTON.

He gulped and quickly turned back to his computer screen. He didn't immediately answer but pretended to studiously contemplate the spread-sheet he was making. "Hmm. . . . . You can take nap time. I can take night time. I don't mind letting him sleep with me every night. That way, he'll get a good night's sleep and you can have a berth to yourself. Every night."

 **UP NEXT: CHAPTER 71**

 **P.S. One of you readers actually predicted they'd be making a schedule. 😊**

 **HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**


	71. Chapter 71 - Opposite Goals

**CHAPTER 71 – OPPOSITE GOALS**

Elizabeth clicked the 'next' button on her keyboard and looked through possible topics for her first class, but choosing on what to lecture was hopeless.

She glanced over at her son who was crawling on the floor in an odd style that he seemed to prefer. With his hands planted in front of him, he kept his little legs straight as if he didn't want to get his knees dirty or scraped while he explored the small living quarters.

It was Elizabeth's turn to keep an eye on Aaron while Jack was in the fitness center playing racquetball.

With Becca.

Perky Breast Becca.

Elizabeth shouldn't have been surprised by the number of crew she recognized from her earlier flights, but she had forgotten – until they ran into each other in the hallway - how incredibly gorgeous her old roommate Becca looked in a sports bra and tiny shorts.

"Jack! Elizabeth! I heard you guys were back with us," the navigator had exclaimed when they had turned a corner on their way to the Cafeteria yesterday evening and had come face to face with her. "Oh my goodness, is this him? The little one you had in your protected belly on the last flight? He's adorable!" the woman had exclaimed before cooing over Aaron. "You are going to be sooo handsome, you little thing. Handsome just like your father." Within minutes, Jack and Becca had enthusiastically agreed to a game on the racquetball court for this afternoon.

Elizabeth wasn't threatened by Becca but she was finding herself jealous that the navigator was spending one-on-one time with Jack.

 _He's getting hot and sweaty right now,_ Elizabeth thought as she sat on one of the bottom berths _. Jack looks good when his hairs all messed up and he's glistening._

Even when Jack wasn't with Elizabeth, she couldn't stop thinking of Jack and their 'problem'. They had now been on the transporter for six days and she and Jack hadn't discussed the scarcity of birth control once.

And there was no need to discuss it up. Because she and Jack had barely had time alone together. She loved that Jack had enthusiastically thrown himself into his role as a father, even if she didn't see the need for it – he had always spent time with the baby, but his surprising and sudden desire to have Aaron in his arms whenever Elizabeth was with him, meant they had little alone time as a husband and wife.

Yesterday, she had suggested that they all go swimming together, but Jack had taken one look at her in her snug-fitting bathing suit, and decided that it would be better if he took Aaron alone. That her post-pregnancy breasts – which were the main reason that the suit was so snug-fitting – might cause the baby to concentrate on the idea of feeding rather than swimming hadn't even occurred to Elizabeth. But Jack's reasoning made sense, she supposed. And so, she had agreed with his suggestion that she stay in their quarters. She certainly didn't want Aaron to drown just because he was hungry.

And this morning when she had put on her tiny and over-tight gym shorts, began bouncing in front of Jack, and suggested that they all go to the gym together for aerobics, Jack had taken one look at her and declined. "Umm. You go ahead. I'll stay here with Aaron. It's probably not a good idea for his tiny ears to be subjected to the pulsating music and foot pounding," he had advised.

* * *

I _t's really amazing how protective and in tune Jack is with Aaron's needs_ , Elizabeth contemplated from where she sat on her berth. _He's such a good father!_

 _Gosh, it makes him even sexier._

In an eager mood to keep the few children on the transport on an equal level with the students on Planet Assaymark, and in an effort to keep herself busy so she wouldn't dwell on what she had forgotten at the doctor's office back on Earth, Elizabeth had obtained a copy of the Coal Valley syllabus.

She had thought that education topics would be so far from her own situation – that of a happily married woman with an attractive husband and a limited supply of condoms - that she would soon forget about wanting to be intimate with Jack and her own stupidity of not getting a birth control implant. Unfortunately, every topic from the Coal Valley school list reminded her of Jack . . . . or condoms. Her eyes scanned the words on her computer screen one more time.

Evolution

The Age of Romanticism

The Sexual Revolution

Vulcanized rubber

The Trojan war

Sperm Whales

Great Seamen in history.

 _This is hopeless. Everything reminds me of being with Jack!_

A disgusted Elizabeth slammed her laptop closed. _Why fight it?_

The noise caused Aaron Daniel to shift his focus from an air vent to his mother.

"It's okay, sweetie. I just have to deal with something," she said in a sweet voice. "Do you miss your daddy? . . . . I do."

 _We have enough condoms to last a while,_ she rationalized. _Why not start using them?_

 _Because Jack's been so busy being a good father._

"Your daddy has been so focused on being a great father, I should thank him in a special way. I need a plan on how to spend romantic time with him and just forget about future problems. Won't that make your daddy happy?" a smiling Elizabeth asked the infant.

 _We just need some alone time together._

 _But he's so focused on being a good father, and his rounds, and catching up with old friends, how do I get alone time with him?_

When the baby started babbling and grabbing at one of her legs, Elizabeth looked down at him.

"That's it, little buddy!" she said happily.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Elizabeth had brushed her teeth, put a light dab of a perfume stick on the base of her neck, and shoved her boring clothes back into her locker. She was now wearing one of Jack's button-up shirts, which she had left mostly unbuttoned, and nothing else.

She sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at the door. Watching it as it began to slide open.

She wasn't so much nervous as she was giddy. Smiling, she imagined Jack's expression when he saw her provocatively waiting for him.

Jack had one foot in the door when he stopped short and stared at her. His mouth started to open and his eyes got wide; if Elizabeth didn't know better, she'd think he looked afraid.

"Hey, what's up?" he said after a long pause and then moved towards his locker.

"What's up?" she giggled. "What do you think?" She tossed her hair over her shoulder and then began to finger one of the few buttons on his shirt, drawing his attention to her cleavage.

"Um. Where's Acorn?" he asked as he nervously averted his gaze and looked around the room. For a split second, his expression reminded Elizabeth of a gazelle about to be pounced on by a lion, but she realized that didn't make any sense.

She gave him a big smile. "Susie and JoJo - its short for Joyce -are babysitting him."

"Is that a good idea? Aren't they like five or something?"

Elizabeth chuckled. "They're eight. And actually, their mother, Linda is babysitting him. But we're letting the girls think that they're in charge. They took him down to the tree room."

"You want me to go get him?"

"No, I don't want you to go get him, silly," Elizabeth responded. "I want them to keep him for an hour."

"Um. Okay."

Jack started to take off his sweaty tee-shirt but then stopped in mid-movement. He looked at Elizabeth then dropped his shirt back down over his abdomen. "I'm going to take a shower."

Without waiting for a response, he walked fully clothed into the bathroom and turned the cold-water handle before the door had even slid closed behind him.

He needed a cold shower. A long cold shower. A very long cold shower.

 _To heck with limited water-minutes_ , he thought.

* * *

On the other side of the door, Elizabeth scrambled from the berth and went to her locker. She smoothed clear soft balm on her lips and then hurried back to her mattress where she once again stuck a pose.

She pushed her hair behind her shoulders, and then, deciding that it was more seductive to have some showing, she carefully arranged a few of her glossy locks over her right shoulder.

 _He's going to get clean and fresh for me. I love when he smells like soap. We haven't been 'together- together' since we've been on the transporter. It's been almost a week. He must miss me. Goodness, I miss him. Especially when he's so good looking._

* * *

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth was tired of striking a pose. One of her arms was starting to feel numb from leaning on it. And her legs had cramps from remaining seductively bent at an angle.

 _Why's he taking so long?_

 _He never takes this long._

 _Maybe he wants me to join him in the shower?_

 _Oh, I'm so stupid! That's it. He's waiting for me to join him!_

An eager Elizabeth scrambled off the lower berth.

"Ouch!" she grumbled when her left leg buckled and she fell on the floor. Banging on her shin with her fists, she attempted to get rid of the feeling of pins and needles in her lower limbs.

Finally, when the painful tingling had stopped, she got to her feet and listened. The shower water was still on.

She moved across the room to stand in front of the door and waited.

And waited.

Elizabeth frowned and waved her hand in front of the sensor but the door remained shut.

* * *

By the time that the door finally slid open, Elizabeth had almost fallen asleep on one of the berths. Her head jerked up and she plastered a smile on her face. Jack, a towel wrapped around his waist and another around his neck, walked out, and glanced at her.

She expected him to walk towards her, but instead he headed towards his locker.

"Jack?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you like my outfit?" she asked with a grin when she thought about what they would be doing. She sat up straighter and decided not to mention that he must have accidentally locked the bathroom door. The new activation system was bound to cause problems, and she didn't want him to feel bad about her being locked out.

"Why are you wearing my shirt? Do you need something clean? Because laundry was delivered," he said with a nod towards the foot of the bed.

"This is comfortable," she said coyly.

"Half-dressed?" Jack gave her a puzzled look.

"Half- _naked_ ," she corrected him with a gleam in her eyes and a smile.

"You'll catch a chill," he nodded again towards the pile of laundry. "You should put on something."

 _Goodness, he's worried about my health._

A perplexed Elizabeth frowned at Jack, and stood up from the berth to try another tactic. "I'm fine. Actually, a little _hooooot_ ," she hissed.

"Hot?" his voice cracked.

"I thought maybe you'd like me to take _off_ something." Her voice was low as she tried her best at a seductive tone.

"Take _off_? . . . .You're right", he exclaimed as if he had just remembered something. "I need to take off and go get Aaron. It's been about an hour since you dropped him off, hasn't it?"

"It's been twenty-five minutes!" she protested.

"That's it?" he asked hesitantly and with what Elizabeth thought seemed oddly like disappointment.

"Yes, silly. We have at least thirty minutes to ourselves. Totally to ourselves." She padded the mattress next to her but Jack didn't seem to catch her hint.

"Are you sure he's okay with them?"

 _For Pete's sake, he's obsessed with Aaron's well-being!_ she thought in bewilderment. _He's such a good father that he doesn't even notice that I'm trying to seduce him!_

"Jack, he's fine. I'm the one that could use a little bit of attention. And I thought _you_ could too," she suggestively told him as she moved closer to his damp freshly cleaned body. "Don't you want some attention?"

"You know young kids. They're probably tired of babysitting him," Jack said hurriedly as he ignored her question. He reached into his locker and pulled out a pair of shorts. "It's probably not a good idea to leave Aaron with them. What do we even know about them? They're strangers to us. They could be part of a gang. "

"They're eight!"

"Do they know basic CPR? The Heimlich maneuver? How to use a defibrillator?"

"They took him to the tree room! Not into battle! What has gotten into you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked a little too innocently as he averted his gaze from her body.

"I am wearing nothing but your shirt and perfume, and you are acting like I'm wearing over-sized sweatpants, fuzzy socks, and a hair-net!"

Jack didn't say anything. His face contorted as if he was struggling to make a decision about something.

"Jack", she said placed hands on her hips. "I'm waiting. What is going on with you?"

Jack scrunched his face and closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see her expression when she heard what he had to say. "I don't want to make love to you," he blurted out.

"You don't _want_ to make _love_ to me?" she repeatedly slowly. "You _don't want_ to make love to me? You don't want to make love to me" she said for the third time as if trying to decipher a foreign language.

Jack slowed opened his eyes and looked at her. "Not tonight. . .. But tomorrow night is okay. . .. tomorrow night is totally good with me," he added eagerly.

"Oh, this had better be good," she said as she flopped onto a berth.

* * *

"We only have twenty condoms," Jack needlessly declared after a long pause.

"I wasn't planning on using all twenty tonight!" she exclaimed as she looked up at him. "I would have been happy with just one!"

"Listen. Now don't get upset. I made a schedule."

"Another schedule?!"

Jack hurried over to his laptop and opened it as he enthusiastically explained his plan. "We have twenty condoms and a minimum five months until a new supply. That means we can use four a month, or one a week. We've been on the transporter six days. It's too soon. We have to wait until tomorrow. We're on a once-every-seven-days schedule."

"A once-every-seven-day schedule?"

"Yes. Isn't that a great idea?"

"No, it's a stupid idea. What if I'm not in the mood every seventh day? What if I'm having my period on the seventh day? What if you're busy working on a case on the seventh day? What if we don't have someone to watch Aaron on the seventh day? What if it's still on the _SCHEDULE_ for you to have him in your berth on every seventh day?"

"That's a lot of what ifs?" Jack grimaced.

"I got one more for you. What if I divorce you on the grounds of stupidity?"

Up next: Chapter 72.

 **Dear Readers, Thanks for your reviews and giving me ideas! I love reading them.**


	72. Chapter 72 - Hubris

**CHAPTER 72 – HUBRIS**

"I don't want to get you pregnant again," Jack replied simply after he had again explained his reasoning to Elizabeth. "I don't want to risk it."

"What risk?! We've got condoms."

"But what if we use them all up in the first few weeks, then we'll be without protection for the rest of the voyage and at least a month or two after we land."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "At the rate you're going, I don't think you're going to need any of the twenty we have."

"I'm just trying to be prudent. Sensible. It has nothing to do with not finding you desirable. Believe me, I find you desirable. I just don't want to."

Elizabeth thought about putting her hands on her hips to look sexier but Jack- still damp from his cold shower - had already turned away and was pulling on a pair of pants over his undershorts which he had hurriedly put on.

"What about what you said to me before lift-off? How we'd have four months in privacy enjoying our time together, " Elizabeth reminded him.

Now it was Jack's turn to raise his eyebrows at her. "That was before a certain someone told me that she had forgotten to get birth control."

"I have birth control," she retorted.

"Not a lot. Are you going to wear that shirt? Because if not, I'll put it on."

"You have got to be kidding me?" Elizabeth huffed. She yanked off the shirt and handed it to Jack, who tossed one of her own tee-shirts to her.

"We have to save our supply of protection for a worthy occasion. When we have time."

"A worthy occasion?" Elizabeth pulled her tee-shirt over her head, relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath. "Let's just hope you can rise to the occasion," she muttered.

Jack lifted his head from buttoning his shirt and looked at her. "What did you say?"

The sliding of the main door stopped Elizabeth before she could repeat herself, and two giggling and enthusiastic girls hurried into the Thornton quarters. Their mother, Linda, remained in the doorway, holding Aaron against her body with one arm, and using her other to try to pull her messenger bracelet out of his little hands which were clenched around it.

"He's so cute! We're teaching him how to talk! I think he said Jo-Jo!"

"Can we watch him again tomorrow?" Susie excitedly asked the second her sister stopped speaking.

"He really likes us!"

"We can be his big sisters!"

"Was he okay?" Elizabeth asked over the voices of the eight-year old twins as she smiled at Linda and quickly slipped on a pair of shorts which she grabbed from her locker. "I suppose after having twins, one little baby is easy for you."

"He was fine," Linda remarked, but her tone betrayed her lack of conviction. "Very sweet. Just . . .I've never seen a baby with so much . . .hubris."

Jack and Elizabeth stared wide-eyed at her and then quickly eyed each other.

"That's the only word I can think of to really describe him," the civil engineer explained to the couple who seemed oddly stunned by her choice of words. "Hubris. It means-"

"We know what it means," Jack interrupted. "Believe me. We know what it means."

"It's like he's not afraid of _anything_. And so curious. Don't get me wrong, he's adorable. Just . . . very determined," the civil engineer continued to explain. "It's like he thinks he can do anything. Even things he shouldn't be doing."

Elizabeth, averted looking at Jack, who was glaring at her with a look that seemed determinedly like an accusation that his son had inherited Elizabeth's personality. Instead, she pried Linda's bracelet out of Aaron's fists, thanked the three suite-mates for watching the boy, and set him down on the floor.

* * *

"Don't look at me like that," she ordered Jack when the door slid closed behind the suite-mates who had promised to be available whenever needed.

"Like what?"

"Like it's my fault he has a strong personality. You're the one in law enforcement. I'm sure he's inherited _your_ personality. You're the brave one. I'm just a school teacher."

"A school teacher who decided to go to a far away colony by herself for adventure and to teach because it was her calling," Jack reminded her. "Or did you forget that?"

"Let's just agree that he's got both of us in him," she admitted. "And the girls want to babysit him again so he's adorable."

"Speaking of babysitting, I told you that we wouldn't have had enough time to have sex anyway," Jack said smugly. "I was right."

Before she could respond, a movement caught Elizabeth's eye and she turned to look at Aaron who was crawling towards the lights on the floor edge.

Elizabeth swooped up her son into her arms just before the baby activated the automatic door sensor, and sat down with him on one of the bottom berths. She didn't bother looking at Jack as she lifted up her tee-shirt.

She pulled aside one of her bra cups to expose a breast. "Don't worry, Jack, it's for him, I'm not putting on a show for you," she said in a condescending tone.

"I wasn't -. Never-mind," Jack mumbled.

"I've got to feed him now. Let's just forget about my attempt to seduce you. By the way, can you get someone to look at the shower room door? It doesn't open all the time. Unless you're happy about that."

"Why would I be happy about that?" he asked in confusion.

"So you can hide in there until every seventh day."

* * *

"That was a delicious breakfast, Abigail," Elizabeth remarked as the two women, each carrying a crate of food, walked down the corridor to the Cafeteria's kitchen from one of the lower levels. It was ten o'clock in the morning on the seventh day of the transporter's flight.

"It feels good to be back on the ship. Together like we used to be. What are you plans for today?"

"When Jack and Aaron get back from the pool, he's going to do rounds for a bit, and after lunch, I have my first class. It's just eight students, and voluntary but the parents are all interested in it, and I'm excited. We're starting with an English lesson. I thought we'd try some poetry."

"Open," Abigail demanded, causing the newly installed voice-activated system to slide aside the kitchen door. "Jack is such a good father. I think its adorable how he's teaching Aaron to swim."

Elizabeth set the box she had been carrying onto one of the stainless steel counters and began taking out the tomatoes. She handed the small round fruit to Abigail who quietly counted them as she arranged them into piles.

"Actually, it's Marisol who's teaching him. She apparently was an Olympic swimmer," Elizabeth explained before telling Abigail more about the pretty Inuit woman who had offered to help Jack with lessons.

". . . . Jack says he doesn't care what she looks like and he didn't even notice her figure, but I did . . . . .

" . . . . . and after she won a gold medal, and was a bathing suit model for two years, she took the money she earned and went to college . . . . .

. . . and then Jack said that if I wanted him to tell Marisol that she didn't need to help with lessons, he'd tell her and just do them by himself. He says it's my choice, but I know that she used to teach babies in a Born to Swim class for infants, and it's free lessons and she's nice enough and . . . . .

. .and then she said Jack was so much nicer than her ex-boyfriend who was more interested in her body than her mind . . . . ."

Abigail chuckled as she finished gathering the last of the ingredients for lunch. "She may have Jack's attention in the pool, but I'm sure you have it the rest of the time."

* * *

Elizabeth glanced at her watch -an antique piece she loved which Jack had bought for her on one of their country weekend bargain shopping trips. She realized that it was almost lunch time.

Juggling the flash-drive she was holding in one hand, she looked forward to watching the recent message from her family. She could have watched it in the communication center but she preferred to have it downloaded so she could watch it with Jack when he came back from rounds. He had left Aaron in her care while he patrolled Level B – which basically just consisted of forming relationships with the crew and passengers as the first step in "community policing".

Approaching the corner of the corridor to their cabin, Elizabeth gazed at the one-inch piece of plastic in her palm and felt a hint of sadness at missing her family already.

 _I wonder what they're doing right now._

Preoccupied by her family on Earth, she didn't notice the man coming towards her.

"Ouch"

"My head." Elizabeth put a hand to her skull and then looked at the person whom she had bumped into.

"You okay?" the man in his early thirties asked. Elizabeth recognized the medic symbol on his lapels.

"Yeah," she replied when she realized she wasn't seriously hurt. "I'm sorry. I wasn't looking. It's my fault. Sorry about all your stuff," she added as she saw the floor now littered with items which the man had dropped when Elizabeth had knocked into him as they had simultaneously turned the corner.

Elizabeth set Aaron on the ground and began helping the man – whose name tag identified him as Ensign Sooner - pick up his dropped supplies of syringes, packages, and papers. "I'm Elizabeth," she offered in a friendly voice as the two scrambled after several small slips of paper which went wildly floating down the hall as a nearby vent opened sending out a blast of warm air.

"Ensign Sooner", he replied as his head swiveled around the hallway to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"Oh, Sorry," Elizabeth said meekly when she noticed Aaron, who was patiently sitting on the floor, was chewing on an official-looking envelope. She gently pulled the wet and mangled envelope from her son's mouth and handed it to the uniformed crew-member.

The man looked at it in a mixture of distress and disgust as he took it into his hand.

"You know babies," Elizabeth said apologetically with a helpless shrug. "They like to chew."

"It's okay," the man muttered as he looked at the envelope, wiped the baby saliva onto his pants leg, and then put it on the stack of his supplies. "Maybe you should get a teething toy for him."

"Yeah," she offered with a light laugh, "except they don't exactly have a kids store here on the transporter. And no delivery either. I was in such a hurry to pack for the trip that I forgot teethers."

The medic nodded politely, but then turned his attention to his messenger bracelet which had started beeping. He wandered down the corridor before Elizabeth could say any more.

 _So much for making friends on the is transporter_ , she thought with a sigh.

* * *

It wasn't until she and Aaron were back in their quarters that Elizabeth remembered the flash-drive she had been holding when she bumped into the ensign.

 _Darn it. I must have dropped it in the hallway._

 _Maybe the medic took it by accident._

 _But I didn't see it with him. I wonder if it bounced off to the side._

Elizabeth glanced at her son who she had placed in his enclosed berth. Jack had altered it to make the exposed sides even higher than initially planned, and the small boy had tried climbing out yesterday but had eventually given up. He was now busy playing with his feet. Elizabeth marveled at the human body's invention of toes.

 _He'll play with those things for hours_. _Certainly long enough for me to run out and find the flash-drive._

* * *

Elizabeth's head was bent down as her eyes scanned the hallway when she heard her name being called.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing?"

"I dropped a flash-drive of a hologram from my family. I was bringing it back to the room to watch when you finished with rounds."

"Where's Aaron?" Jack asked as he reached over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"He's in the room. He's fine. I just left him a minute ago. And he's in his berth."

"You don't think he can climb out?"

"I don't think so," Elizabeth said confidently. "He's good but not that good."

The couple scanned the floor again for another twenty seconds before deciding to just have another download of the hologram made when they stopped by the communication office later that afternoon. It was obvious that someone had picked up the flash-drive.

"It was hologram from the family, right? Not just from Julie?" Jack asked with smile. His stomach began grumbling and he looked at his watch.

Elizabeth squinted her eyes in confusion. "Why does it matter?"

Jack gave her a knowing look. "Because if it's just Julie, she's bound to be saying some totally inappropriate things about her love life, our love life, or her recent decision to study other people's love lives and recreate them."

"Good point," Elizabeth readily agreed. "Probably not a hologram we want inadvertently getting in the hands of others. I'll ask the ensign if he picked it up by mistake. We can check after lunch."

* * *

The couple had taken a few steps down the corridor towards their quarters to get Aaron for lunch when it happened.

The strange phenomenon that only happened in space.

"Whoa," a startled Jack said.

It happened so quickly, Elizabeth would have fallen when her legs lifted off the floor. If it was possible to fall. Which it wasn't.

"What's going on?" she asked as her hair floated in front of her face and she struggled to try to get some control over her body. Even though she had been in zero gravity before, it still unsettled her. The more she moved about, the more her body seemed to betray her until she found herself floating horizontally on her belly with her knees bent back and her feet facing towards the ceiling.

"Don't move so much," Jack instructed. "Just relax. It's probably just some kind of minor malfunction. Or some idiot accidentally pushed the gravity button and turned it off. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Here give me your hand," he said tenderly as he held out one of his arms to her.

"How long do you think it will be off?"

"Probably not long. A few seconds until someone realizes –"

Jack was cut off by the voice coming over the intercom.

"ALL PASSENGERS, WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. I'M SURE YOU'VE NOTICED THE LACK OF GRAVITY. ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY WILL BE RE-INITIATED IN TEN SECONDS. PLEASE SECURE ALL LOOSE ITEMS WHICH MAY HAVE FLOATED AWAY AND BRACE YOURSELVES. TEN SECONDS TO GRAVITY RE-INITIATION."

Before Elizabeth could react, Jack had already slammed his hand onto the nearby intercom. "Do not re-initiate gravity. Repeat- do NOT re-initiate gravity. This is Officer Thornton. You need to hold re-initiation," he firmly ordered. "Confirm holding re-initiation."

"RE-INITIATION ON HOLD," the man on the other side of the intercom responded sending the words echoing through the entire transporter. "OFFICER THORNTON PLEASE MESSAGE THE CONTROL CENTER."

"Aaron," Elizabeth gasped when she realized the situation two seconds after Jack had already thought about would happen if the gravity was turned back on. "He'll fall eight feet and hit the floor!"

Jack was already speaking into his bracelet as he used his arms to push off a nearby wall and head in the direction of his quarters.

* * *

"Why isn't the door opening?" he questioned Elizabeth who had quickly floated behind him. They were hovering a few inches from the ceiling in front of their assigned cabin. The control center had agreed to suspend artificial gravity until Aaron was safely contained and there was no danger of him falling to the ground. Nonetheless, Elizabeth and Jack knew that the other passengers were undoubtedly anxious to have a return to a normal state where they could continue their duties and activities. If Elizabeth wanted to make friends aboard the transporter, keeping everyone afloat wasn't going to do it for her.

"I don't know. It just wont' open." She began repeatedly waving her hand in front of the light sensor and scanning her bracelet but it was hopeless. The door remained closed.

"Let's go through the suite," Jack told her.

The door next to theirs opened automatically for them, and they found themselves staring at Joyce and Susie who were giggling and hitting each other with a pillow as they floated in the center of the room.

"Just passing through," Jack said to the girls as he headed to the bathroom.

"It's not working either," he announced when the door on their side of the Jack-and-Jill bathroom didn't open. "Did you do something to the doors before you left?"

"No. It stuck yesterday once."

"But now both doors are stuck. I can understand one door having a malfunction, but both doors? And just to our cabin?"

Elizabeth waved her hand in front of the door sensor again. "Why won't it open?" she said in frustration.

"Are you sure you didn't put on some kind of lock when you were leaving?"

Elizabeth suddenly looked stunned. "Aaron must have voice-activated the locking mechanism!"

"He can't even speak," Jack reminded her.

"He can babble! He must have made a sound that somehow sounded like a command to lock the doors!"

* * *

"Stop worrying. He's not in any danger. He can't get into any trouble in there." Jack said over his shoulder as he used his hands to try to pry open the door to their quarters. The couple were now back in the main hallway waiting for someone from the ship's custodial section to remotely open the door. They had already tried using their voices to unlock the doors but Jack's authoritative command and Elizabeth's pathetic plea didn't alter the door's position.

"He locked us out." Elizabeth was on the verge of tears. "He's alone in there," she whimpered.

"He's okay", Jack assured her. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath when the door refused to budge.

"I've never left him alone before. Why did I leave him alone?! It was only for a few minutes. I had no idea. Stupid. I'm so stupid," Elizabeth berated herself as she nervously wrung her hands.

"You are not stupid, and Aaron is just fine. He may be a little puzzled by the fact that he's floating, but he's just fine."

"Are you sure?" Elizabeth asked anxiously.

"He can't get into any trouble in there. It's just a mostly sterile barren room."

"What if his face is pressed up against the ceiling and he's suffocating?"

"He's not suffocating, and if his face is pressed against the ceiling, he'll move it. He's not an idiot."

"Maybe he's banging back and forth against the walls like a ping-pong ball and he can't stop himself," she said anxiously.

"He is not banging back and forth like a ping-pong ball!" Jack exclaimed. "He's probably asleep. Floating and sleeping and not even realizing gravity is turned off."

"Maybe he's doing somersaults and can't stop," Elizabeth said worriedly as she over-thought the matter. "He'll throw-up and it will go everywhere. Floating all around him. And he'll play with it."

"Let's calm down and stop thinking disgusting thoughts."

"Officer Thornton" the voice came over Jack's bracelet. "Have you procured your son? Can we re-initiate gravity?"

"Not yet. Sorry but we need the door to our quarters to open first. We're waiting for an override. I'll let you know as soon as you can re-initiate," Jack spoke into the silicon and steel device on his wrist. "It should be any –"

Jack stopped speaking as the door suddenly slid open in a swift and smooth motion revealing their cabin.

Elizabeth hurriedly nudged aside Jack and propelled herself through the doorway by pushing off from the door frame. Jack was only a split second behind her as they hovered weightlessly in their small quarters.

Their small quarters which contained the familiar berths and lockers was eerily quiet.

Their bed covers with their edges attached to their berths strained upward now that there was no gravity to keep them neat and snug on the mattresses.

Soft fluffy pillows floated against the ceiling. Jack moved one out of his way as he glided to the far side of the room.

Elizabeth batted a stray sock away from her face and flipped upside down to look at the undersides of the top berths.

At the same time, Elizabeth and Jack jerked their heads towards each other. Both wide-eyed in a mixture of confusion and fear.

Their adorable fearless son was nowhere in sight.

The room was empty of Aaron Daniel Thornton.

Their little boy had disappeared.


	73. Chapter 73 -Searching For

**Chapter 73-SEARCHING FOR**

"Where is he?!" an astounded Elizabeth asked. She looked around the room in bewilderment. She had expected to see her son the moment the door had finally opened and revealed her cabin. She had never imagined that he would have simply disappeared.

"Under the covers, that's it!" Jack announced as he propelled himself to the nearest bunk. "Of course," he said in relief. "He's got to be under the covers."

"Yes!" Elizabeth replied. She heart stopped beating erratically now that she knew that her son was just a few feet away and merely hidden from her view.

She and Jack had initially assumed that the covers, which were lifted inches off the berths and held down only at the edges – like a small tent- were straining against the lack of gravity, but now it made much more sense that their small boy was playing under one of them.

Jack let out a sigh of frustration when the upper berth on the right side of the cabin didn't have his son hidden under the covers. He quickly moved to the left side berth while Elizabeth scrambled to look under the covers of the lower berths.

"He's not here," she said unbelievably as she examined the one berth and then the other.

The berths which Jack checked were also empty.

The couple stared at each other. Both thinking the same thing. What the hell?!

Grabbing hold of the nearest locker, Jack yanked open the door, and looked inside. "He's got to be somewhere!" he said anxiously before moving on to the other three personal storage units.

Each was empty.

Elizabeth used her arms and the metal rungs of the berths to maneuver herself along the room. Determinedly checking each set of bedding again and gently smooshing the pillows.

"Where is he?!" she cried out but Jack was already moving through the shower door, which slid open perfectly for him now that the mechanism had been overridden.

* * *

"We've been here the whole time," Susie had announced when Jack explained that they were looking for Aaron. "He didn't come in here."

Jack and Elizabeth had nevertheless searched their suite-mates' room as well as the bathroom and the shower enclosure. Elizabeth had even looked in the toilet.

"Are you sure you're not playing a trick on us?" she had sternly asked the two girls. "Because it is not funny. Not at all. I am very worried about Aaron. If they turn gravity back on and he's floating, he'll fall and hurt himself. And he shouldn't be without me or Officer Thornton. Tell me the truth. Do you know where he is?"

"No, Mrs. Thornton. Honest," the girls had professed in unison.

* * *

Jack was now arguing with the transporter's control center and First Officer.

"Officer Thornton, we need to re-initiate gravity. We have an entire ship full of people who are tired of floating around. Not to mention the experiments and objects that weren't secured when we lost gravity. I'm sorry, but I can't keep everyone off their feet much longer just because you lost your son."

"You will keep gravity off until I find him," Jack ordered firmly.

"I'm in charge of this ship, not you. Please remember that," the first officer's stern voice came over Jack's messenger bracelet.

"And _I'm_ in charge of all law enforcement, the security of this ship, and all investigative matters. I have the authority to over-ride all ship actions, _including_ yours and the Captains, if I see the need. You need to remember that," Jack said harshly. Although he generally didn't like to flout his powers, he wasn't too modest to use his position if he needed to.

Elizabeth frantically wrung her hands while Jack continued speaking to the control center and ordering someone to check the security cameras in his office. From what they had guessed so far, Aaron must have opened the door to the main corridor by either getting in front of the lights or by the voice-activation system, left the room, and then locked the doors behind him.

Jack was trying to remain calm but he had to admit he was a bit frazzled that his son was lost. Or possibly kidnapped, although that seemed highly unlikely given that everyone on-board had thoroughly passed a security clearance and they were all stuck together on a transporter for the next four months.

"You stay here, Elizabeth. I'm going to my office to look at the cameras myself."

"Why should I stay here?" Elizabeth questioned Jack. When she moved to look at him, a large swath of hair billowed in front of her. She absent-mindedly pulled a rubber band off her wrist and secured it around her disheveled hair.

"He can't have gone far. He's still new at crawling," Jack reminded her.

"Of course, he CAN have gone far!" she hysterically argued. "He's not crawling! He's _flying._ He can go wherever he wants! He can go anywhere just by moving his limbs! He doesn't even have to be coordinated!"

Jack struggled to come up with a logical response to the idea that his six-month old son was flying through a transporter as it hurtled through space. "Then stay here in case he comes back."

"He won't come back!" Elizabeth gave naive Jack a bewildered look. "He's six months old! He's not a homing pigeon! How is a six-month-old supposed to find his way back to his quarters even if everything on the ship didn't look the same?!"

"It's okay, Elizabeth. Just stay calm."

"Calm. Right, stay calm," she ordered herself, but a tear tumbled out of one of her eyes and trailed down a cheek.

"Fine. Then come with me," Jack replied as he took hold of her hand and used his other to push off from a wall.

* * *

An announcement had been made over the intercom asking all passengers to be on the look-out for the missing child, and Jack felt confident that Aaron would be found soon.

"Did you tell them that he weighs fifteen pounds and has brown hair?" Elizabeth anxiously asked Jack when the first announcement was made. "Because they didn't mention that."

"It's fine. People don't need to know his weight and hair color."

"They should announce that he's wearing a onesie without the feet parts. It's white with little bright orange giraffes on it. And he's not wearing socks."

An incredulous Jack looked at her and shook his head. "We don't need to tell anyone what he's wearing."

"It might be helpful," she protested.

"How will it be helpful?!" Jacks eyes drew together and he continued to look at her in disbelief. "Do you think that if people don't know about the giraffes no one is going to notify us when they see a baby float by?!"

"They may not think he's lost!"

"He's an infant floating alone through the transporter. I think they can figure out that he's our lost son."

"Maybe not!"

"He's the only baby on board!"

* * *

The surveillance cameras on the transporter were not as helpful as the couple had hoped. Unfortunately, the cameras, which were affixed to the ceilings, had their lenses aimed downwards. While that was normally the position which allowed movements to be captured on a digital recording, it was meant to record people walking on the floor, not floating near the ceiling.

The couple had seen Aaron happily float out of the cabin but then lost sight of him as his body moved above the camera's focus. They now knew that he hadn't been kidnapped, but that didn't make them feel entirely comfortable with the situation.

"Come on, we'll start patrolling the corridors."

The couple had barely left the security room when the first report of a sighting was made. A man's sleepy voice crackled over the intercom. "Umm. This is lieutenant Tuskina. There's a baby that just floated into my quarters, but he floated back out before I could confront him. Weird. Was I dreaming?"

* * *

Jack and Elizabeth were going as fast as they could by pushing off of walls, stair railings, and doorways as they made their way through the ship. It was difficult maneuvering because the limited gravity meant that there wasn't much friction to stop them when they propelled themselves in one direction. The result was that they didn't stop moving until they banged into a wall or door, and then pushed themselves in another direction.

Elizabeth had a feeling she'd be covered in bruises by tomorrow. The couple was hurriedly changing directions almost constantly as new reported sightings were announced.

" _I saw a baby cross the other end of the hallway on Level 3A. He was chewing on a shoe."_

" _I'm missing a shoe,"_ a female's voice came over the intercom.

" _Some kid wearing a giraffe onesie just floated by me in front of the fitness center. I had my hands full or I would have reached out an grabbed him."_

" _Did someone say a kid and a giraffe just floated by? Why is there a giraffe on-board?!"_

" _I want to see a giraffe."_

The messages which were from the sleepy night crew were obvious because the men and women, woken up by repeated announcements, and finding themselves hovering off their mattresses, sounded the most confused.

" _My door opened and I heard what sounded like a kid babbling before the door closed again. But I'm not sure. Our lights were off. I'm in E308 Level 2B. Is something going on that I should know about? I think it was that nut-allergy kid. Walnut or Pecan or Acorn or something."_

 _"Something just drooled on my face while I was sleeping!"_

It seemed that as soon as Jack and Elizabeth headed in one direction, Aaron was spotted in another area.

* * *

"Where is he?" Jack asked to couple in the Quartermaster's office. He swiveled his head around and started for the long shelving.

"He's not here. The door opened and he came in but then he left again."

"What didn't you get him?!" Elizabeth demanded.

"He startled us. It happened really quickly," the male crew-member answered defensively. He looked a bit disheveled but Elizabeth reasoned that was due to the lack of gravity.

"How hard could it be?! You just had to reach out and grab him!"

"We were busy," the female crew member whose messy pigtails were floating to the sides said evasively. "We messaged you," she added as if that made up for the fact that she hadn't secured the small boy and held him until his parents arrived.

"How busy could you be?!"

"Hey, don't yell at me," the woman retorted as she took offense at Elizabeth's outburst. "I'm not the one who lost my kid."

"Why you –"

"Stop, Elizabeth," Jack said before Elizabeth could continue her verbal attack. "Just let it be. Let's move on."

"And you two, I suggest you stop making out with each other while on duty," he said as the took hold of Elizabeth's hand and guided her towards the door. "Tuck your uniform shirt in," he ordered the female crew member on his way out of the room.

"You should report them," Elizabeth said with a huff before the door had barely closed behind them and they were back in the hallway.

"For what? Making out?"

"Dereliction of duties," she responded hotly.

"We lost our kid. I think we've already taken the cake on dereliction of duties."

 **Up next: Chapter 74**

Dear Readers: HAPPY NEW YEAR!


	74. Chapter 74- Lost and Found

**CHAPTER 74 – LOST AND FOU ND**

The couple had thought about having all the doors on the transporter locked so that their son would be confined to either the hallways or a single room but without knowing where he was and with the passengers already losing patience at the lack of gravity, it didn't seem prudent to now put them on lock-down.

Most of the passengers used their four months on the transporter to conduct experiments or do research, while crew-members were expected to keep the transporter flying, the water clean, the air pumped through vents, the food prepared, the laundry cleaned, the navigational system updated based on stars, comets, asteroids, and meteoroids, and messages to Earth, colonies, and other ships, sent and received and processed. Basically, the ship and the people on it needed to do their jobs even if they had to struggle with a lack of gravity. Requiring them to remain behind locked doors because Elizabeth and Jack had misplaced their son wasn't a viable option.

Elizabeth and Jack each took one side of the long corridor lined with doors and proceeded to open each one looking for Aaron Daniel. If the room was occupied, they moved quickly onto the next room. If the room appeared unoccupied, they would do a quick search to make sure the boy wasn't in the bathroom or under a berth, or on the ceiling.

"Nothing," Elizabeth said with a sigh when she met Jack in the hallway. "No one's seen him."

"We'll find him. He can't have left the transporter. I have to admit I didn't think we'd be playing hide-and-seek with him this early in his life," Jack said with a frown.

"Officer Thornton, can we re-initiate gravity?" the first officer's perturbed voice came over Jack's bracelet.

"NO!" Jack and Elizabeth both screamed into the wrist band.

* * *

"Where now?" Elizabeth asked when they came to the end of another row of cabins.

Things had now been quiet for more than ten minutes. At least with regard to sightings of Aaron. The only comments were people wondering when they could get back to their schedules. Even Abigail, who loved Aaron, was feeling slightly hassled by the seventy-five Russet potatoes which were floating around her kitchen.

"We can try the lowest level. It's the most empty. Large storage rooms and labs with fewer workers so he might be going unnoticed," Jack responded.

"Except if he's using the stairwell to go between floors, he'd be floating _upwards_. Meaning we should go to one of the upper levels. The top level."

"Unless he's using the elevators. Then he could go up or down."

"He doesn't know how to use an elevator," Elizabeth said dismissively. She knew that her son was advanced for his age – as confirmed by his recent pediatric doctor's appointment- but "advanced" meant he had started to crawl. It didn't mean that he could operate a mechanized transportation device used to move people between floors.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "I think it's already been determined that our son knows how to do a lot of things we didn't know he could do. Like open a door. Close a door. Lock a door. Move about a transporter evading his parents."

"Good point," she agreed. "But do you really think he could use an elevator?" she said skeptically.

"Who knows? He just babbles and the new voice-activated systems react. They're interpreting his baby sounds as _something_ , and opening doors for him. He could be trying to say DaDa and they think he's saying _'_ down two'."

"He'd be trying to say MaMa probably, but you're right that he might be using the elevators," Elizabeth knowingly noted. "Let's go downstairs where there are fewer people. It makes sense that he's somewhere fairly empty or we would have had another sighting."

Jack hesitated a moment before following after her.

"Why would he say Mama before Dada?" he called out. "Dada's a good first word! It's a great first word!"

"I agree it's a great first word. It's just not as great as MaMa," she replied with a smirk.

"He might just decide that it is," Jack remarked smugly.

Elizabeth scoffed. "I doubt it."

"Why? Why would a future law enforcement officer with an awesome father say MaMa before DaDa?" Jack asked as he gently pushed against a wall to purposefully overtake Elizabeth.

"Because I'm his mother. Obviously."

"And I'm his father."

"Exactly. You're his _father_ ," Elizabeth called up to Jack who was an arm's length in front of her. "I'm the one that gave birth to him and nurses him, so it makes sense that he'd try to say MaMa before he'd try to say Dada."

"I'm the one that sings to him and rocks him to sleep at night so it makes sense that he'd say DaDa first."

"So, one of you is the father and one of you is the mother. Great. Now the only thing you're missing is the kid," a sarcastic male voice came from around the corner.

A man with a crew-cut hair style passed the couple with a look of disgust on his face, reminding Jack and Elizabeth that the passengers were irritated with the lack of gravity.

"Parents! Sheezh," the man muttered as floated down the hallway. "The kids' first words won't be MaMa or DaDa, they'll be 'I'm lost'."

* * *

When the elevator door opened to the lowest level of the transporter, Jack almost banged into a small woman. Without gravity, her red hair was beautifully billowing around her face like an aura of flames.

"Excuse me, have you seen our son? Six months old. Soft brown hair. Barefoot. Wearing a giraffe onesie." Elizabeth asked hurriedly.

"Nope. Sorry." The woman moved past the couple through the small doorway.

"If you see him, please let us know!" Elizabeth called out as the door slid closed ending their conversation.

"Why is no one worried?!" she demanded in exasperation. "He's a lost baby! Back on Earth, we would have called 911, and started a search team with dogs to help find him! Father would have already announced a reward and mother would have organized hot coffee and donuts for the volunteers"

"This wouldn't have happened back on Earth," Jack reminded her. "He wouldn't have _flown_ out of the house. Unless, there's something you're not telling me about him? Like he actually has some odd trait due to being conceived in space that you've been hiding from me. You haven't, have you? Been hiding the fact that our son can fly?"

Elizabeth stifled a laugh and for a moment forgot how worried she had been since artificial gravity had been turned off.

"Excuse me, have you seen our son?" she called out when she suddenly saw two women floating down a cross hallway. "He's six months old. Soft brown hair. Barefoot. Wearing a giraffe onesie. The only baby on the transporter. His name's Aaron."

"Sorry. We heard the announcements but we've been at our duty stations. Didn't see him," one of the women answered before they floated out of view.

"Jack, I'm worried. He's got to be somewhere. What if he's scared?"

"He's not scared," Jack assured Elizabeth. "If he was scared, he'd be crying and someone would have heard him."

"What if he's not crying because he's hurt and can't cry," her voice choked off at the thought.

"He's not hurt. He's floating. He can't fall. Nothing can fall on him. There are no wild animals to attack him and drag him off into the wilderness. No neighborhood dogs to bite him. No swimming pools to fall into – the one in the gym is covered – he can't have gotten in – I had Marisol lock it and she's in the fitness center looking out for him. No busy streets to crawl into. No horses to stomp on him. He's safe," Jack assured her. "He's just on an adventure."

"Where is he?!" Elizabeth practically wailed despite Jack's attempt at confidence that their son was safe.

Before Jack could answer, the intercom buzzed with the sound of an upcoming announcement.

"ATTENTION. ALL PASSENGERS, PREPARE FOR RE-INITIATION IN TEN SECONDS. OFFICER THORNTON PROCEED TO WATER PURIFICATON TO COLLECT YOUR SON. ALL PASSENGERS BRACE FOR RE-INITIATION. IN NINE. EIGHT. SEVEN. SIX. FIVE.

A startled Jack and Elizabeth both grabbed hold of the metal rail which ran along the wall.

FOUR SECONDS. THREE. TWO. ONE.

Their feet fell to the floor and for a moment Elizabeth was too disoriented to move. It reminded her of years ago after she would spend hours on snow-covered mountain slopes wearing heavy ski boots, her feet would feel awkward and light when she would finally take off the equipment. Only now it was the opposite. It was like putting on loads of equipment which weighed her down.

"I need to go on a diet," she muttered before she and Jack hurried down the corridor towards the stairwell.

* * *

When Elizabeth and Jack entered the water purification room with its large machinery, Candy, their roommate from their last flight, was holding Aaron in her arms and laughing as the boy tried to pull her hair out of its ponytail holder.

"Thank goodness," Elizabeth exclaimed as she hurried forward and reached out her arms to Aaron, who instantaneously changed his focus from Candy to his relieved mother.

"Thanks, Candy. We so appreciate this," Jack said as he reached his arms around the woman who had captured their son and gave her a quick hug.

"What this?" Elizabeth ran a finger along her son's forehead and then looked at the dark streaks of grey on his onesie. A giraffe's face was completely obliterated by a huge smudge. "Grease all over him?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was working on the machines when we lost gravity and some lubricant floated off the pipes. I had to go to Level 1 to handle something and when I got back here, your little one was floating around and gathering the drops, and smooshing them on himself. I kept him from eating them."

"Poor little thing," Elizabeth said with in a sing song voice as she spit on Aarons face and then wiped it clean with her sleeve.

"He's a cutie," the water-purifier announced with a smile. "Even if he did try to eat grease and my hair. Which reminds me, he was chewing on this when he floated in here." She gingerly picked up a hair comb which was wet with slobber off of her desk and handed to Jack. "And he was carrying this." She handed Jack a piece of metal covered almost entirely in red silicone. The number 'two' was emblazed in black in the center of one end of the four-inch long object.

Jack set the comb back on the desk and felt the weight of the other object in his palm. "It's heavy. "And he was carrying this?"

"Yeah," Candy nodded.

"He's stronger than I thought." Jack's voice showed his obvious pride.

Candy snorted. "Duh, there was no gravity. Remember Jack, we were all floating. No gravity. No weight."

"Yeah, right," he admitted with an embarrassed smile, and then curiously examined the object. "What is it?"

"Not sure exactly. It's a lever of some kind. I'm just not sure what it's from."

"Great," Jack said sarcastically. "So far our little explorer has pilfered a shoe, a hair comb, and probably some vital piece of equipment required for the ship to keep a straight course and get us too Coal Valley."

"It's not exactly like he's left a path of destruction in his wake," Elizabeth remarked nonchalantly. She smoothed the baby's hair back and gave him another kiss – the fifth in the past minute. "It's probably "nothing important."

"Yeah, your right. That's why its covered in bright red, and on the bottom edge is says 'for emergency use only." Jack sighed, put the item in his pocket, and nodded to Candy. "Thanks again. We'll get this little one back to our cabin."

* * *

Hours later, after lunch and dinner meals, and so many apologies to other passenger that Jack felt like he should wear a shirt printed with the words "I'm sorry we inconvenienced everyone", he dimmed the lights in the Thornton cabin and lowered himself to the mattress on the floor.

The couple hadn't even debated their sleeping arrangements. After the worry of temporarily losing track of their son earlier in the day, they had instantaneously agreed that the family would sleep together. Their reasoning was simple – they didn't want Aaron left alone for even a second. And since the floor was the only place big enough for the three of them, they had pulled mattresses from their berths and made a bed on the floor.

Elizabeth sleepily looked at the numbers illuminated on her watch.

Just past midnight. She couldn't go back to sleep.

A few hours earlier, as they had changed into sleeping clothes, she had automatically wanted Aaron in bed with her, but now . . well. . . now, she had calmed down and was feeling something other than maternal protectiveness.

She was feeling squished. And hot.

Aaron had fallen asleep after his middle-of-the-night nursing and his warm body was still pressed up against Elizabeth like a heating blanket. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't stop thinking about it. His adorably pudgy and warm body was causing her to start to perspire on her chest.

Gingerly, and while still cradling him with one arm, she put her other hand on the rail of a lower berth and slowly pulled herself to an upright position.

"What are you doing?" Jack mumbled when he sensed movement in the room.

"Shh, just putting him a berth."

Jack lazily turned over onto his side but kept his eyes closed. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine. Just tired after his long day," she whispered.

Still hot from her son's body, Elizabeth pulled off the tee-shirt she used to sleep in and which was now spotted with dribbled breastmilk. She tossed it across the room and onto one of the berths.

Laying down next to Jack, she stared up at the ceiling. A small night-light glowed in the corner but the room was otherwise dark.

"Jack?"

"Hmmm."

"Are you asleep?" she whispered.

"Yes," he murmured.

"I love you." Elizabeth's voice was soft but totally honest.

There was a sleepy pause before Jack responded. "I love you too."

"I really really love you. Today was stressful but you didn't once get mad at me for leaving him."

"It wasn't your fault."

"I shouldn't have left him," she acknowledged without even trying to shirk the blame.

"You couldn't have anticipated that we'd lose gravity and he'd be able to activate the doors," a now more awake Jack responded. "You deal with children all the time. I trust you. This is just one of those crazy things that no one can anticipate. I have a feeling we're going to have more crazy unanticipated things over the next eighteen years with little Hubris."

Elizabeth smiled and gave Jack a shove. "Stop calling him Hubris."

"Huebie?"

"Stop it!" she put her over her mouth to stifle a giggle. "Shhh. We'll wake him," she whispered.

The room was quiet again, except for the faint hum of the air recycling unit.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I wouldn't want to have a misplaced child with anyone but you," she said earnestly.

Jack chuckled. "Odd statement to make but I get the sentiment. I wouldn't want to have a misplaced child with anyone but you either."

"We really are perfect together, aren't we?" Elizabeth turned on her side, resting on an elbow as she looked at Jack in the dim light.

"We really are." He closed the few inches between them and touched his lips to hers.

In the dark quiet night and so used to the normalcy of being together, they forgot something. They forgot to remember what Elizabeth had earlier remembered that she had forgotten.

And because they were so in love, the couple did what they had done on so many occasions.

 **Up Next: Chapter 75**

 **Dear Readers: What is with this couple?!** **😊 They just get in one predicament after another.**


	75. Chapter 75- The Doctor's Appointment

**CHAPTER 75- THE DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT**

Elizabeth awoke with a start.

For a brief moment she was disoriented until she remembered that she was lying on the thin mattress on the floor of their quarters. Without needing to turn her head to look around, she knew that Jack was peacefully sleeping next to her. She had initially fallen asleep in his arms. At some point during the last three hours, they had sleepily untangled their naked bodies but she could feel that he was still just a few inches away.

She also knew that Aaron Daniel was peacefully sleeping in the berth to her right. She could hear the little noises he made as he sucked on one of his thumbs.

 _If it wasn't Jack or Aaron that had made me wake up in a panic, what was it?_

 _Crap. Crap. Crap. CRAP!_ Elizabeth thought as the events of a few hours ago came to mind.

 _What did we do?!_

 _What did we do?!_

 _WE HAD SEX WITHOUT BIRTH CONTROL!_

 _IN SPACE!_

 _CRAP!_

 _What were we thinking?!_

Lying still so as not to disturb her husband or her son, Elizabeth imagined how Jack would react in the morning. Her devoted Jack. Her perfect match in every way. Mentally. Emotionally. Physically. He was perfect for her. He teased her. He energized her. He supported her.

She adored everything about him. His hair with its adorable cowlick. His eyes, which changed with the lighting and his mood and were the color of pools of blue green water. Or grey skies on a stormy day. His hands were strong and nurturing. His face could make her smile with just a wink or a look. He was everything she wanted in a husband.

How would he react if she had gotten pregnant? In space. Again.

 _His schedule. His perfect schedule. We ignored it. And it was my fault. I'm the one who woke him up last night._

Jack had planned everything, and now Elizabeth was messing up her perfect husband's life.

A fretful Elizabeth finally fell back asleep when her brain was too exhausted to think anymore. She drifted off just as Earth's daytime was being simulated on the transporter. The lights in the corridors getting brighter. The night-shift workers finishing their shifts. The day-workers waking up.

* * *

Hours later, now fully awake, Elizabeth used one hand to wipe tears from her eyes before the small drops of moisture fell onto Aaron's face as the boy nursed.

She couldn't stop crying so she simply stayed on the mattress in a pit of despair.

She had thought that she and Jack would discuss the 'situation' when they both woke up. But he had left before she was even fully awake. Placing their son in her arms for nursing, he had quietly told her he was going running.

And that was it. That was the extent of their morning conversation. That and Jack's brief mention that he was going to ask the laundry to drop off more sheets.

She wondered if he was running on the treadmill or around the levels of the ship going up and down the stairwells. He ran for exercise. He ran to think. He ran to relieve stress. This morning's run was no doubt to relieve stress.

As she held the baby against her breast, she cried with worry about the idea of being pregnant. Then cried with happiness at the possibility. Then cried with worry. Then cried with happiness. Back and forth went her emotions. The tears silently falling down her cheeks every few minutes.

Elizabeth contemplated what would happen if she was indeed pregnant after last night's encounter. She'd need to transfer to another transporter heading back towards Earth. Jack would need to continue his voyage to Coal Valley or resign from the Force. Aaron would stay with Jack or they'd have to petition to have him de-classified as a research subject. Jack's career would be over. The pregnancy and the new baby's health would be in jeopardy due to space. Their lives would be in turmoil.

Their lives would be wonderful. A new baby. A sister or brother for Aaron. They'd be a family of four. Living back on Earth in their adorable home in Liskow and surrounded by loving relatives. They'd turn the extra bedroom into a nursery with a cute mural or wallpaper of little pandas or sheep or maybe horses. On warm summer days, they'd lay a soft blanket on the backyard grass and have picnics; Aaron and the new baby would crawl on top of a proud Jack while Elizabeth smiled in happiness.

But Jack would be unemployed, and unable to find a job in law enforcement due to leaving the Force abruptly and without proper notification. He'd be pressured to work for Mr. Thatcher. He'd hate an office job. He'd begin to resent Elizabeth. Their marriage would be full of tension. There'd be no happy picnics in the backyard. The nasty squirrels would bite the baby and they'd all have to get rabies shots.

Back and Forth, Elizabeth's mind went.

 _Why?! Why were we together last night?!_ she moaned to herself.

Elizabeth sniffled. Not wearing a shirt, and not wanting to get up while holding the baby, she had nothing to use to blow her nose. Looking around in despair, she finally just blew her wet nose into the bed-sheets.

Her life was a mess and she looked it. Her cheeks were blotchy and streaked with mascara which she hadn't bothered to take off last night. Her hair was a tousled heap that resembled a mouse nest rather than the luxurious locks of Rapunzel.

She didn't think she could cry any more, and then Aaron changed from eating to teething. He bit down on her breast causing her to wince and start crying all over again.

 _How am I going to handle a pregnancy and a baby?!_

* * *

"Hey, you're awake," Jack said as he walked in the room and saw her sitting on the mattress stacking blocks with Aaron.

Elizabeth had a headache – which she assumed was due to her crying jag – and didn't have the energy to get up. Luckily, Aaron was content playing next to her and intermittently chewing on a teething toy that the crew member had dropped off yesterday. Elizabeth had no idea where someone had managed to find a teething toy on the transporter, but she didn't care. It kept her son happy.

"Yeah. I just woke up a bit ago. I'm still tired though," Elizabeth looked expectantly at Jack. Hoping he was in a good mood after his run. Hoping he was understanding about last night.

"I'm going to hop in the shower. Here, I brought you this." He placed a bottle of water on a nearby shelf. "You look awful," he noted casually as he grabbed hold of his tee-shirt and pulled it over his head. He tossed it into a corner. "Worse than usual."

A stunned Elizabeth wiped her eyes again and contemplated how puffy her face must be from her crying, but before she could say anything, Jack was talking again. "I ran into Marisol and we're going to take Aaron swimming. Can you put him in his swim trunks? And I saw Becca too. We're signed up for the racquetball league."

"Racquetball?" Elizabeth uttered but Jack barely noticed.

He took off his shorts and threw them on top of his sweaty tee-shirt. "We think we have a good chance at winning. You should see some of the other passengers. Mostly nerdy scientists," he chuckled as he walked into the shower-room.

"Jack? Do you want to talk? About last night?" she called out, but Jack didn't respond and a second later, Elizabeth heard the sound of the shower water.

* * *

 _That's it?!_

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed in irritation and she glared at the shower-room door.

 _He walks in, brings me a bottle of water, and goes to take a shower?!_

 _No 'I love you'?_

 _No 'hey sweetie, I'm sorry I got carried away last night but you are so desirable and I love you so much that I couldn't stop myself'?_

 _No 'whatever happens, I'll be happy because I love you'?!_

 _That's it?! He's going to take a shower and then leave again?!_

 _Of course, I look awful. Why shouldn't I? I'm married to a jerk!_

 _Doesn't he care about me?! About last night?_

 _Maybe he wants me to get pregnant so he can get rid of me?_ She wondered with a furious tightening of her jaw.

 _Ship the pregnant little wifey home to Earth and be a playboy!_

 _I look worse than usual?! I just woke up! Am I supposed to look like a cover girl after sleeping on the floor?!_

 _Men!_

 _They're horrid! I'm married to a horrid man! I'm too good for him!_

* * *

When Jack came out of the shower-room two minute later, wrapped in a towel, and humming a tune, Elizabeth was still on the mattress of the floor and had refused to change Aaron into his swim trunks. If Jack wanted to take the boy for a swim date with the gorgeous Marisol, he could change the boy himself, she had thought angrily.

"You should get up," he encouraged her. He smiled at Aaron and made a silly face for the boy. "Maybe go for a jog", he suggested pleasantly to Elizabeth.

"I don't want to go for a jog!" she said indignantly.

Jack cringed at his wife's outburst. "Okay," he said. "Forget a jog. Sorry. I just thought it might help."

"Why would a jog help?" she scrunched her face in a nasty retort.

"I just thought it might," Jack replied with a shrug. "You know, exercise."

Elizabeth looked at him in disgust. "A jog?"

"Then a shower," he offered nonchalantly as he combed his hair.

"A shower? You think a shower is going to make a difference? Jack, I may be _pregnant_. Have you even thought about that? Remember last night? Did you forget what we did last night?" she asked loathingly. "Do you even care that I may have gotten pregnant and what that means? You ran out of here before we could even talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about. You're not pregnant," Jack announced dismissively

He pulled out a pair of swim trucks from his locker and slipped into them. After casually tied the strings on his trunks, he retrieved Aaron from the floor. "Hello, my little boy. We're going swimming. That will be fun, won't it? You like swimming."

"I may be!" she said hotly. Her head was pounding and she didn't feel like fighting but she refused to allow Jack to treat her poorly and ignore the possibility that last night's activities had led to a pregnancy.

"I admit I was worried when I first woke up, but you're not, so we dodged a bullet. But we need to be more careful."

"How do you know that I'm not pregnant?" Elizabeth demanded. She watched Jack's loving interaction with Aaron, and wondered how he could be so awful to her.

"Have you been out of bed this morning? Off that mattress?" he asked curiously.

"No," she answered hotly. "I don't feel like it."

Jack gave her a knowing look which didn't tell her anything other than she was confused by it.

"Why? What does that matter?" she finally ventured angrily.

"You got your period."

"What are you talking about? I did not." Elizabeth scrunched up her eyebrows and stared at him in puzzlement before quickly jerking up the sheet and looking at the fitted sheet underneath her.

 _Oh, my goodness, he's right!_

"Course you did," Jack told her. "I noticed it on the sheets this morning. I told you I was getting the laundry to bring us some more," he reminded her as he began changing Aaron's outfit.

 _That's what he was talking about! I thought he was just into housekeeping._

"I brought you ibuprofen," he added with a nod to the shelf where he had placed the water bottle. "You didn't take them yet? You always get a headache the first day of your period. I stopped by the infirmary after my run and picked them up for you."

"Oh, right," she said meekly. _He went and got me ibuprofen! Because he knows how I get headaches._

"And I got you the water because you always feel gross and dehydrated and say water helps."

"I do," she said weakly. Her eyes began filling with tears.

 _That's why he said I looked awful. He wasn't being critical, he was being sympathetic! Thinking that its worse for me this month because we're in space and I'm in this cramped room sleeping on the floor._

"And you always get emotional, and confrontational and hot-tempered" Jack said with a smile and shake of his head. "C'mon, Acorn. We're going to leave Mommy alone for a bit. It always takes her an hour or two, ibuprofen, and a hot shower before she feels like herself."

"Thank you." Elizabeth called out as the men left the Thornton quarters.

 _He really is the most perfect husband,_ she thought as she swallowed the pills and headed to the shower-room.

* * *

"Mrs. Thornton", the doctor's voice rang out in the hallway from the doorway of the infirmary.

Elizabeth was on the way to collect Aaron from Abigail, who was undoubtedly spoiling the boy with attention. She stopped walking and turned around when she heard her name being called. After swim lessons, Jack had left Aaron with Abigail so he could do his rounds and Elizabeth could rest until her headache had gone away. Now, feeling much better, Elizabeth's thoughts about how wonderful Jack was as a husband, were interrupted by the doctor's professional voice.

The three Thorntons, like all passengers and crew, were required to have periodic physical evaluations while on the transporter and again while in Coal Valley. The scheduling, either by earth citizen number of alphabetically, usually meant that Jack and Elizabeth were towards the end of the schedule, and this voyage was no different. They wouldn't be seen until more than week after lift-off; all three of their appointments were for tomorrow.

"Mrs. Thornton, your initial evaluation isn't until tomorrow, but I've got an opening now. I don't like to waste time. Are you available?" the doctor asked as he thought how lucky it was to find someone to fill the empty time-slot.

* * *

The infirmary was even more sterile than the rest of the transporter if that was even possible. Elizabeth had sent a quick message to Abigail letting her know that she would be delayed, and now found herself sitting shoe-Less on the edge of an examination table with a blood pressure cuff inflating on her upper right arm.

"How's Aaron Daniel doing?" the doctor asked. "I'll see him for his appointment tomorrow but you can let me know now if you have any concerns."

"No concerns. He's fine."

"Any problems lactating now that you're on the BCHD?" He removed the cuff from her arm, wound the cord around it, and put it back in one of the metal drawers that lined a wall. His question about birth control was ordinary and routine, but Elizabeth immediately became nervous.

"Um. About that-" Elizabeth began hesitantly.

* * *

A minute later, Elizabeth was feeling hysterical relief.

For eight days, she and Jack had been worried for no reason. Her lapse in getting birth control before boarding the transporter had been unfortunate but as the doctor explained, it wasn't life altering – just an inconvenience which he could help them with. She couldn't believe that she and Jack hadn't thought to ask the man earlier.

" . . . I feel so silly not telling you earlier but . . . .

. . . . . we were so worried about getting pregnant in space again . . .

" . . . . we just knew that on our last voyage, there wasn't anything,' she explained again with a smile. "Because it wasn't thought necessary. And I thought I'd get in trouble. Maybe get sent back to Earth."

The doctor chuckled. "Still such a crazy story. The three of you. Who would have thought someone would get pregnant in space with all the precautions we have? But you did last year and my brother still talks about having you as a patient. But like I said, not to worry this time. You're not pregnant so let's keep it that way for the next two years. That's why we have the Thornton contingency on every flight."

"The Thornton contingency?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Didn't I mention? That's what we all call it. No disrespect intended."

"Um. Okay," Elizabeth answered hesitantly. Now that the doctor, who had initially been affronted by her neglect of getting an implant, had told her that he had birth control on board, she really wasn't about to complain about the nickname for the supplies even if it was slightly demeaning.

"It's just a few extra supplies. An extra BCHD in case one goes bad – much like yours did before, and some condoms," he explained. "I assume you'd like the BCHD?"

"Yes, please." Elizabeth unbuttoned her waistband and lowered her pants for the injection of the device into her hip. "You want me to lay down for it?"

"Doc?" she asked when he didn't respond but instead continued to look through a nearby drawer and then open another and shuffle through the contents.

"That's odd. I don't see it here. One of the medics should have stocked it," he said pensively. "Let me check the computer."

Elizabeth dangled her feet from the edge of the examination table. Casually at first, and then with more nervous energy as she waited for the doctor to give her his attention. The paper sheet underneath her crinkled and then tore when she shifted her body for the fourth time.

The doctor's sigh seemed to echo through the otherwise quiet room. "Well, that's unfortunate. Let me pull up the Report of Survey."

"Report of Survey?" Elizabeth's voice cracked at bit. She knew about Reports of Survey. She had been interviewed for many of them after her first voyage when an irrational passenger had damaged a considerable amount of the ship and Elizabeth had been locked in a mini-transporter set to jettison. Reports of survey were completed for one reason only. To document the loss and damage of equipment.

The doctor sighed again as he read from his computer screen. "I hate when medical equipment is destroyed. It looks like the device – the only one we had onboard – had to be destroyed due to damage."

"Damage? Who damages a BCHD?"

"It says here that it was A. Thornton."

Elizabeth looked baffled. "A Thornton? What do you mean _a Thornton_ destroyed it? Me or Jack? Why would we destroy a BCHD? We didn't even know that there was one on-board!"

"Not a Thornton. A. Thornton."

"A Thornton?" she repeated in confusion.

"Aaron Thornton, I assume. It appears that Ensign Sooner was delivering it from storage on the lower level to the infirmary after inventory and he bumped into you in a hallway?"

"So?" Elizabeth had no idea where this conversation was going. She felt like she had stumbled into the middle of a story and didn't understand the plot. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"According to the report, he dropped the device, which was contained in an envelope, and your son picked it up and chewed on it. Crumpling and wetting the envelope through to the inside. The device – as you know- is very fragile. Ensign Sooner couldn't guarantee that it hadn't been damaged so he felt it was prudent to destroy it rather than have someone rely on it."

Elizabeth looked stunned.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Thornton, but your son was responsible for the destruction of the only BCHD we had on-board."

 **UP NEXT: Hmmm. I haven't come up with a title for it yet, but I've got the idea**. 😊


	76. Chapter 76 Be careful what you ask for

**CHAPTER 76 – BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR**

Elizabeth felt like bursting into tears.

The only available BCHD – birth control hormone device- on board the transporter had been destroyed.

Destroyed because Elizabeth had bumped into the medic carrying it, and then, while she had been helping the man gather his supplies, little Aaron Thornton had chewed on it.

It was ruined. Destroyed.

Any hope of being implanted with the device and not having to worry about getting pregnant in the next two years was also destroyed.

For the second time in two weeks, Elizabeth had missed out on getting implanted.

 _For Pete's sake, first I'm distracted by Aaron in the doctor's office on Earth, and now Aaron causes this one to be destroyed._

 _This is all my fault. I need to keep a better eye on him._

A startled look came over Elizabeth's face _._

 _If I didn't know better, I'd almost think Aaron was doing this on purpose so he'd get a little brother or sister!_

* * *

"Mrs. Thornton? Mrs. Thornton, are you alright?" the doctor asked her when he realized she wasn't paying attention to him.

Elizabeth jerked up her head. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking of something. Something stupid."

"I'm sorry about the BCHD but there's no use crying over spilled milk."

 _This isn't spilled milk it's a destroyed BCHD_ , Elizabeth thought to herself and wondered how she was going to tell Jack. She sighed and realized there was nothing to be done about the device. "You said you had some condoms in stock. Can I have some?"

"Certainly. It only seems fair. A contingency condom for a Thornton from the Thornton Contingency Plan," he said as he amused himself.

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled. _Oh heck, who cares about the name._

"That would be helpful if you have them," she added, trying to be appreciative. And she was appreciative. It was just not as ideal a situation as it had seemed five minutes earlier.

The doctor opened a metal drawer but didn't take anything out. He frowned as he looked inside. "Hmmmm. Nothing seems to be where it's supposed to be today. We should have a stack of them," he said pensively.

Elizabeth's eyes followed the doctor as the man moved to his computer. His fingers clicked on the keyboard.

"Strange," he mused as he searched his inventory. "It looks like quite a few were signed out already. I wasn't aware of that. Lieutenant Cassiopeia Greenview was on duty. They were signed out to . . . ," he paused as his eyes scanned the screen in front of him, and then he finally announced the recipient. " . .. . . Officer J. Thornton."

"Officer Thornton?!" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

The doctor nodded. "Your husband. Two days after we started our voyage."

"But that was –"

"A week ago," the doctor finished Elizabeth's sentence. "I assume he would have told you about them."

"No, he didn't," she said barely above a whisper. _Why didn't Jack tell me?_

"He had quite a few signed out to him,"the doctor noted as he once again looked at his inventory computer file.

Elizabeth just stared at the man. A perplexed look on her face. _Why would Jack sign out condoms . . . a week ago . . . and not tell me? And why would he say he didn't want to be with me more than once a week because we didn't have enough?_

"Do you still want some _?"_ the doctor asked after an awkward silence.

"Are you sure it was my husband? Jack Thornton? Officer Jack Thornton?"

The doctor seemed uncomfortable with the idea of having an emotional woman with possible secrets in her marriage sitting in his office. "He's the only Jack Thornton on-board."

"He just didn't say anything to me about it." The confusion was evident in her voice.

"Hmm. Marriage problems?" the doctor said awkwardly. "I find that honesty is always the best avenue in a marriage",

"We don't have any marriage problems," Elizabeth announced with a forced attempted at being carefree. "It must have skipped his mind. We certainly have more going on than . . . _that_. He was probably going to tell me as soon as he remembered. It's not a big deal. How many did he get?"

The doctor, relieved that Elizabeth didn't require a hug of comfort, skimmed the computer screen and began silently counting the lines of data.

Elizabeth wondered if the man had lost count or become distracted. It was certainly taking him a long time just to count to three or four. Or five.

"So, how many did he get?" she prodded the doctor when it seemed he had finally finished counting.

"Twenty-two."

"TWENTY-TWO?!" Elizabeth exploded.

"Oops. Sorry. I missed one. Twenty-three."

"TWENTY-THREE?! You must be wrong! Count again."

"Nope. I'm right. Twenty-three condoms signed out for Officer J. Thornton a week ago."

TWENTY-THREE CONDOMS?!"

"TWENTY-THREE CONDOMS?!" she asked again when the doctor just nodded.

 _Why didn't he tell me? . . . . With my twenty-one and his twenty-three, we had forty-four. Forty-four! Forty-four! We had a total of forty-four condoms and he never told me. . . . . . He let me believe that we had only twenty-one! . . . .He came up with that STUPID once a seven-day schedule!_

 _Why didn't he tell me?_ she thought worriedly.

* * *

"I didn't get any!" Jack repeated for the third time. "I have no idea why the computer shows that they were disbursed to me!"

Elizabeth paced Jack's small office, which was full of screens showing various parts of the ship. She ignored them all. She didn't care about what was going on anywhere but right here. In the security office. With her husband. She had waited two hours until he was out of a meeting and then cornered him to find out about the condoms.

"Your name and Earth Citizen number are listed as the recipient. I saw the computer screen inventory," she informed him. Her eyebrows raised in accusation.

"I don't know why," Jack repeated.

"You have no idea why your name and Earth Citizen number are listed as having twenty-three condoms disbursed to you?"

"None. It wasn't me. I haven't even been to the infirmary since we came onboard. Except for my rounds. To meet the staff and stuff," he said defensively. Elizabeth's stern voice had the ability to make him feel like a chastised student.

"You expect me to believe that Cassiopeia just faked the records and stole them?"

"Well yeah, I suppose. Maybe," Jack said uncertainly.

Elizabeth scoffed. "Like there's some sort of black market in condoms?"

"It's possible."

"Ooooh, how sinister, a black-market in birth control. How much do you think they're worth?" she questioned with her voice dripping in sarcasm. "Especially because EVERY FEMALE ON THIS SHIP ALREADY HAS BIRTH CONTROL EXCEPT ME!"

Jack shrugged helplessly. If he had thought that her emotions this morning were sensitive, they were now on overdrive.

"And how stupid would it be for her to put down the name of the ship's SECURITY OFFICER?!

Jack cringed but refused to back down.

"Why didn't you just ask Cassiopeia?" he questioned. "I'm sure it was a mistake. She probably just wrote it down wrong."

"I thought you just agreed that she faked the records and stole them. And now, you think it was a mistake. You're changing your story, Jack. Try again. And this time tell me the truth."

"You are not an investigator. And I am not one of your students," he said scornfully. And I did NOT get any condoms" he added firmly. "Ask Cassiopeia."

"She's on the night shift so she's been asleep all day. I didn't want to wake her," Elizabeth grumbled and then stared at her handsome husband.

"Why did you have that stupid schedule?" she asked suspiciously.

"I told you, so we'd have sex only on the seventh day."

"Not that schedule. The one where you always had Aaron with me or you. So we were never alone!"

The wheels in her mind were spinning as she started to comprehend something. "You've been using our son to keep us from being alone so I won't seduce you! Taking him on some of your rounds. The swimming lessons. The father-son bonding time. He's been your wingman!"

Jack cringed again and then feebly tried to defend himself.

"I explained why I didn't want to be with you."

"You've been using our baby as interference," she said in disbelief.

"Well, yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Jack gave her a quizzical look and wondered where this conversation as going.

"You didn't want to be intimate with me and yet you had twenty-three condoms in your pocket? You have some more explaining to do, Jack."

"I don't have twenty-three condoms!"

* * *

Elizabeth and Jack tensely waited until the night-shift workers had reported for duty, and then left Aaron with Susie and Joyce, who were both thrilled to be official babysitters again.

Elizabeth, Jack, the ship's doctor, and Lieutenant Cassiopeia Greenview were now standing in the ship's infirmary. Cassiopeia had been on duty for less than a minute before the Thorntons walked in the door and asked about the condom disbursement.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think they'd be needed. I checked all the records and all the females were listed as having been implanted. There was no indication that the BCHDs wouldn't work for the next four months, and Officer Thornton needed them so I went ahead and disbursed some of them," Cassiopeia said in defense of her actions.

"I needed them?" Jack questioned.

"How could you know that?" Elizabeth squinted her eyes in confusion.

"Because he told some of the crew members."

"I didn't tell any crew-members," Jack said quickly when Elizabeth gave him a stunned look.

"You told the crew members about us?" she gasped.

"No, I didn't!" he repeated fervently.

"Yes, you did," the lieutenant blurted out and lowered her voice when both Elizabeth and Jack glared at her. "You told Bob in the quartermasters, and you told Marisol. Marisol said that you seemed kind of desperate," she explained and then gave Elizabeth an apologetic look.

"I'm not desperate," Jack said defensively. "I never told the crew members I was desperate!"

"Did I do something wrong? Marisol said you'd be appreciative. I thought I was helping out," the medic asked worriedly. She looked at Jack, and then Elizabeth, and then at doctor as if she had no idea why Jack was denying that he had needed the condoms.

"Your time with Marisol?" Elizabeth gasped again. "She'd be appreciative of you having condoms?"

"Elizabeth, I have no idea what she's talking about!"

"She just was trying to help," Cassiopeia said quickly in defense of her friend. "And I didn't think it'd be a problem. I thought you were okay with what Marisol and Officer Thornton were doing, Mrs. Thornton. You know, sometimes a wife and mother just needs a break from . . .. stuff."

"Stuff?" Elizabeth repeated, but Cassiopeia was already hurriedly explaining herself some more.

"At first, I thought that ten or fifteen would be enough, but based on his size and energy, Marisol wanted more. So we decided on twenty-three."

Jack was totally befuddled, and actually a bit scared of what Elizabeth might do. He looked like a boy caught with his hand in a cookie jar who didn't even like cookies and had no idea how he had ended up in the kitchen.

There were a few things that Elizabeth hated in life. One was not understanding something. Which was happening right now. Another was someone insinuating that her husband was doing something immoral. Elizabeth could do that in the privacy of their quarters, but no one else was allowed to question Jack's integrity. And that was also happening right now

"For what?" Elizabeth asked. "For what reason did Marisol think _my husband_ needed condoms?" There was no missing the emphasis on the words 'my husband.'

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, I'm afraid it's not," Elizabeth said tersely.

"To prevent fluids from escaping when he was with Marisol . . or you . . . or whoever." Cassiopeia shifted her feet nervously.

"For protection," the young lieutenant added as she looked at the wide-eyed married couple standing in front of her.

"For protection?" a dazed Elizabeth repeated.

"We don't want a little tadpole to be tainting the pool," Cassiopeia continued with a nervous laugh when no one else said anything.

They continued to stare at her as if she had just declared that Jack was a male prostitute spreading his genes throughout the ship's beautiful female passengers and crew.

"Am I in trouble? Did I do something wrong?" Cassiopeia swiveled her head from the gaping couple to the doctor who had decided to rearrange his filing cabinet rather than be involved any more. "Because I'm sorry if –"

Elizabeth interrupted her. ""A little _tadpole_?"

"A tiny Thornton swimmer –" Cassiopeia began but her voice trailed off. Jack was staring at her in shock.

"Tainting the gene pool?" Elizabeth questioned in confused disgust.

"Not the gene pool," a bewildered Cassiopeia explained. "The pool pool."

* * *

Elizabeth didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or be mad.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Jack repeated. Elizabeth shook her head in tired exasperation.

Cassiopeia and the doctor had both quietly left the infirmary. Jack and Elizabeth were so focused on their own conversation that they hadn't even noticed.

"How was I supposed to know?!" Jack argued. "There's no way that I could have known that Marisol and the quartermaster would melt down twenty-three condoms and use them to make Aaron's swim bottoms!"

"I cannot believe this!" Elizabeth threw up her hands in disgust.

"It's not my fault!"

"They had a stash of condoms and now they're gone! YOU wanted him to go swimming. You needed a swim suit for him! It had to be waterproof!"

" _YOU_ said it had to be waterproof!" Jack retorted.

"Of course it had to be waterproof! You can't put a six-month old in a pool without a waterproof diaper!" she yelled back.

"Where else were they going to get rubber material to make waterproof swim bottoms for a six-month old baby on a transporter headed to Coal Valley?!"

"They didn't have to use the condoms!" Elizabeth wailed.

"We're on a ship taking scientists into deep space! It's not like they could go to the nearest hardware store for supplies!"

Elizabeth let out a deep breath and stared at her husband.

He stared back at her.

Finally, she spoke. "He'd better one day win an Olympic Gold medal in swimming after all this."

* * *

"Let's just find out about the rest. Doc said they stocked thirty," Jack said after another long silence between the couple. "Twenty-three were used on the swimsuit. That's leaves seven. Let's just take them and go back to our room and forget this whole mess."

"Fine."

"We okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay," Elizabeth conceded. She gave him a weak smile. "It's not your fault. You forgave me for the BCHD debacle. Let's move on."

They moved at the same time for a quick kiss, and then headed to the door to find the doctor and gather the last remaining seven condoms.

* * *

An upset Cassiopeia, feeling as if she had done something wrong despite the doctor's assurances that he was not going to write her up for any violations, had been excused to take a fifteen-minute break even though she had just come on duty. Jack and Elizabeth would apologize to her later but right now they were more concerned with accomplishing the task at hand.

Jack lovingly put his hand on Elizabeth's back and tried not to think about this humiliating story making its way into the medical officer's log book.

The doctor took one small foil-wrapped packet from the bottom of a pulled-out drawer, and then went back to his computer.

"That's only one," Jack said under his breath to Elizabeth. "There should be seven."

She wondered why Jack felt the need to whisper. They were talking about condoms, not top- secret space systems or a murder investigation. But even she wondered why the doctor only had one in his hand.

"Maybe he's going to get a bag for us," she whispered back, automatically using a soft tone in response to Jack's. "So we can carry them down the hallway in a brown paper bag or a box. Less embarrassing. And doctor – patient confidentiality," she added knowingly.

The doctor cleared his throat before speaking. He kept his eyes on the computer screen and clicked a few more buttons. "It looks like that in addition to the twenty-three disbursed on behalf of Jack, another six were checked out to . . . . "

The doctor pushed the page down button and new images appeared on the screen in front of him before continuing to speak.

" . . . . .. E. Thornton."

"Elizabeth?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Me?!"

"E. Thornton. Earth Citizen number EK-0951984. Six condoms. Disbursed in your name two days ago."

"But I didn't!" Elizabeth protested.

"Two days ago?" Jack quickly looked at Elizabeth for an explanation.

"You're the only E. Thornton aboard this ship," the doctor announced unnecessarily.

"I didn't get any! I swear!"

"Maybe you forgot?" Jack offered helpfully.

"Forgot I got six condoms? It's not like getting a breath mint from someone! I think I would have remembered."

"Who gave them to her? Who signed them out?" Jack questioned the doctor.

"Ensign Sooner."

"Ensign Sooner? The man who bumped into Elizabeth in the hallway and destroyed the BCHD?"

"Because it had been damaged," the doctor reminded Jack. "Ensign Sooner is an excellent medic. BCHDs and condoms have never been needed before on a transporter or a deep space colony. Never until you two showed up. They've been stocked on every flight since your debacle, and no one. I repeat. No one has requested them. In fact, the only people that seem to have trouble with birth control are the two of you. So, please do not blame my medic for the destruction or disbursement of inventory."

"We're sorry," Elizabeth said before Jack had a chance to speak. "We're just a little unsettled by everything today and I didn't request any condoms from Ensign Sooner so I have no idea why –"

Elizabeth stopped speaking when the infirmary door slid open. All heads turned to witness a young man in uniform with medic insignia on his lapel walk in.

"Oh, hello," he said. He was somewhat startled to look up from his messenger bracelet and see everyone staring at him. "Where's the little tyke?" he asked in a friendly voice as he looked around the room expecting to see Aaron.

* * *

Jack and Elizabeth walked down the hallway. There was nothing to say. The one remaining condom from the infirmary's supply was in Jack's pocket. But neither Jack or Elizabeth imagined using it anytime soon.

They were each mentally stunned as they silently recapped the situation.

The one and only BCHD had been destroyed by Aaron.

Twenty-three condoms had been melted down and used to waterproof a swimsuit for Aaron.

Six condoms had been melted down and used to . . .

well, they had been . . .

Elizabeth didn't want to think about it.

They had been in her hands hours earlier. She just hadn't recognized them.

Jack stopped walking and looked at her in bewilderment.

"A teether?" he asked as if he still couldn't believe it. "You told the ensign you needed a teether for Aaron?! He melted down six condoms so you could have a TEETHING TOY for Aaron?!"

* * *

Dear Readers: I hope it made you chuckle. :)

UP Next: Chapter 77

P.S. A reader asked if I was going to be updating "What if things were different. Reversal of Fortune". I do have an idea for the next fun "predicament" for our happy family back in Hope Valley, but I haven't had a chance to get it written yet. Thanks for remembering that story!

P.S.S. Thank you to everyone that reviews!


	77. Chapter 77 - Top Banana

**CHAPTER 77 – TOP BANANA**

It was three weeks since the disastrous doctor's appointment. After the initial shock of having no additional birth control to add to their own stash, Jack and Elizabeth actually found themselves too preoccupied to think about it except for the once-a-week scheduled time.

Elizabeth had received word that the teacher in Coal Valley was being relieved of her duties and sent home. Despite extensive psychological testing, no amount of multiple-choice questions, essays, and interviews, could fully gauge how two years on an isolated primitive planet would affect someone. Apparently, it had been a photograph of her beloved family dog sleeping on a couch that sent Ms. Ella Mentury into an uncontrollable flood of tears in front of her students, then three trips to the colony's psychiatrist, and finally on the manifest for a return flight to Earth.

If the weepy nostalgic freckled-face woman with the perfect name for teaching but without the necessary fortitude could hang on without having another full breakdown until Elizabeth arrived, the students' lessons wouldn't be too interrupted.

An extra locker, un-needed because there were only three occupants in a room meant for four, had been removed from the Thornton quarters and replaced with a chair and small fold-up desk to allow Elizabeth to have an "office" of sorts to prepare for her new duties as Coal Valley's teacher.

She might actually be using her "teacher's desk" as she prepared her English lesson plan except it was currently being occupied by Coal Valley's incoming law enforcement officer who found it a more convenient place to work than his mattress. While Elizabeth had been dealing with her replacement's nervous breakdown, Jack had been dealing with getting up to speed on the activities of Coal Valley. He could have used his office, but truth be told, he loved being in the close quarters with his family.

Elizabeth looked at her list of possible book choices and frowned at the task of choosing novels for the students to read. She had already chosen one for the younger students, but she was divided on what the older teenagers should read. There were the obvious choices about social revolutions from the nineteenth or twentieth century, but then there were also the classic sagas between lovers of different class statuses offering a prospective of class warfare and economic inequality.

 _They're so romantic_ , Elizabeth thought with a sigh.

 _The undying love._

 _The couples so passionately willingly to give up everything for each other._

 _The only reason to live is be with each other._

 _To breathe the same air as one another._

 _To feed each other's souls._

She looked over a Jack who was sitting on the room's only chair and hunched over his lap top computer.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" he replied as he continued working on his computer.

"Could you live without me?"

"Sure," he replied without glancing at her.

"Did you even hear what I said?" she asked with a scowl.

"Mmhmm," he mumbled as he failed to give her much attention. "You asked if I could live without you."

"And?"

"Yes. I said yes, I could." He glanced at his messenger bracelet and then back to computer screen to check a recent note. "Why wouldn't I be able to? _"_

"Um. I don't know," she said sarcastically. "Maybe because you love me and I'm your wife and the mother of your child? And you once said that I am the sun, and the moon, and the stars to you."

"That was before Aaron came along. Also, those were metaphors. I didn't actually think you were a celestial body."

"So much for undying love," she muttered.

"Well, yeah. I love you. But I could _live_ without you. As long as I have food, water, and oxygen. So unless you're planning on leaving me somewhere without food, water, and oxygen, I could live without you," Jack answered as he perused his computer screen.

"And even if you left me without food and water, I could probably find that on my own. I'm good at stuff like that," he added.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes _._ "I meant because you'd be so terribly devastated."

A pre-occupied Jack ran his fingers along his screen and counted quietly to himself. "Devastated?" he questioned when he realized she had said something.

"Upset," she said in exasperation. "Wrecked. Shattered. In emotional turmoil. Gutted. Broken. Forlorn. Destroyed."

"Obviously I'd be sad, Miss Thesaurus. But that wouldn't _physically_ incapacitate me. I'd still be able to _live."_

His words were directed at Elizabeth but his eyes were still focused on his screen. His fingers clicked on his keyboard to enter data from the recent investigation. "You're awesome but not exactly a technical requirement for life."

"You'd be heartbroken!" she insisted.

"Heartbroken is just a saying. It's not an actual physical thing. You can still live. The heart doesn't actually break apart. Geez, I thought everyone knew that."

Aaron, who was sitting in his berth, widened his eyes in surprise as a tee-shirt, balled up by Elizabeth, flew through the air and smacked Jack in the head.

"Hey, stop it", Jack groused.

Aaron's head moved from his father back to his mother, who picked up a pair of rolled socks and sent them sailing across the room. The little boy's eyes followed as the socks hit Jack square in his back before bouncing off and landing on the floor.

Elizabeth grabbed a second pair of socks and lobbed them across the room.

This time, they glanced off Jack's shoulder as he stood up from his chair.

He deftly caught a third pair with one hand and dropped them to the ground before walking towards Elizabeth.

Aaron hoped more things would fly through the air. It was quite exciting to the small boy, certainly more interesting than the squishy toys in front of him that squeaked and rattled.

But instead of more things sailing from one side of the room to the other, Jack picked up a willing Elizabeth and gently tossed her onto a berth before climbing on top of her as she let out a giggle.

The little boy watched expectantly but no more objects hovered, even temporarily, above the floor.

He lifted up his tiny arms and optimistically waited for a repeat of what had occurred weeks earlier when he had maneuvered weightlessly through the transporter, but today he remained solidly on his diapered bottom.

Finally, he returned his gaze to the squishy toys in his berth and ignored his parents who, except for an occasional giggle or whisper, were back to their boring habit of playing together in their own berth.

* * *

The next morning, Elizabeth, already fully dressed for the day, climbed out of her berth and fumbled with Aaron's blanket until she found his misplaced pacifier. She handed it to the weepy boy who took hold of it and shoved it into his quivering mouth.

"Sorry, sweet thing," she apologized.

Elizabeth wearily looked around the small room. Directly after the family had finished breakfast in the cafeteria, Jack had gone to the security office while Elizabeth and Aaron had gone back to their quarters for much-needed naps.

Elizabeth pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and looked at her watch. She sighed when she saw the time. It had only been thirty minutes since she had closed her eyes. She wished it could have been longer.

Aaron had slept fitfully last night which had caused Elizabeth to sleep fitfully. She was used to being woken up by him once a night for nursing, but last night he had aroused her from her sleep – or her attempt at sleep – every twenty or thirty minutes. The small size of living quarters meant she could hear every sound he made. The tossing and turning. The flipping upside down so his feet were where his head had been and vice versa. The occasional sad murmur. The whimper as his tiny hands clung to the top of the berth's security rail and he looked out at Elizabeth until she woke up to comfort him.

"Listen, kid. Let's try to get a better night's sleep tonight. Okay? If you lose your pacifier, try to find it yourself. And just a helpful hint, if you stopped flipping around so much, you wouldn't lose it."

* * *

Elizabeth and Aaron made their way down the corridor while a voice over the transporter's intercom broadcast daily news items from around the world. When the crew-member announced the weather in Coal Valley, Elizabeth shook her head at the wry humor; the weather in the colony was always the same, every day, now that the biosphere had corrected its malfunction.

Elizabeth had splashed some water on her face to fully wake up, and was on her way to first go to the communications center, then the cafeteria, and then a tutoring session. One of her students was a nine-year-old who spoke only Japanese and whose parents refused to provide the child with an instant-translator. The girl's parents had decided that the child should learn English the old-fashioned way – through practice and trial and error - which meant Elizabeth was attempting to explain geography, earth sciences, and how to diagram a sentence to a girl who had arrived on the ship with only enough English to say 'Good morning', 'Good Day,' 'Good night', 'Please' and 'Thank you'. Elizabeth had yet to figure out a way to use those phrases in any of her actual lessons.

"Maybe there'll be a message from Aunt Julie about how she's destroying our house with wild parties," Elizabeth half-jokingly told Aaron. She carried her son on her hip as they exited the elevator and made their way a short distance down the hallway.

Elizabeth hadn't heard from her family since the flight had departed Earth. She didn't count the hologram she had been unable to watch because she had lost it in the corridor when she had bumped into Ensign Sooner. When she had finally retrieved the flash-drive from Ensign Sooner, popped it into her computer, and sat down to watch it, she discovered someone had downloaded the wrong message. Instead of Julie theatrically explaining her latest drama with her teacher boyfriend Bob, a blurry image of a scruffy man in jeans and a button-down shirt talking about agriculture had appeared in front of her.

"If there is a message, we'll watch it after my class. Abigail will take care of you while I'm tutoring and daddy's busy, and will give you another ice cloth for your gums, baby," she added as the door to the communications room slid open.

The boy had no idea what his mother was talking about but he loved touring the ship, and the communication room was fascinating. It was full of beeps and lights and crew members diligently typing on the keyboards. Holograms which were-speeded up to save time were broadcast in a corner of the room as they were downloaded or screened for importance.

* * *

"Nothing today. Sorry, Mrs. Thornton," the technician said when he looked up from a screen and saw Elizabeth and Aaron enter the room.

"Are you sure? My family should have sent something by now."

"That's what most passengers think. But my experience is that people on Earth get on with their lives and are so busy they forget about us."

"My family didn't forget about us," Elizabeth said disagreeably.

The man shrugged. "You'd be surprised. I see it happen all the time. Out of sight, out of mind."

Elizabeth gave the man a look of disgust. "Can you just check again please?"

The man checked his files of incoming communications, and noticed that Jack had received a message from his old unit, but there was nothing for Elizabeth.

Nothing. Which made her worry.

Elizabeth wasn't surprised her family hadn't sent a message. She had only been gone a month and the farther they traveled from Earth, the longer messages took to arrive. Besides, her father and mother were both busy with work and charities and their own lives. She supposed she'd get a message from them in a few weeks. As for Viola, she and Elizabeth had never been terrible close so not hearing from her wasn't a surprised.

Julie was another story. Elizabeth knew four things for sure. One, Julie loved excitement and drama. Two, Julie loved to gossip. Three, the only time Julie didn't gossip was when she didn't want to be reprimanded for having done something stupid. Four, Julie was living in Elizabeth and Jack's adorable perfect house.

 _Crap. She's done something to the house!_

 _She's done something to the house and is afraid to tell me._

* * *

"That smells delicious, Abigail," Elizabeth remarked as she walked into the cafeteria's kitchen with its stainless-steel counters, large refrigerators and freezers, and drawers of supplies.

Somehow, today's aroma emitting from the stoves managed to remind Elizabeth of her small kitchen in Liskow rather than a transporter's kitchen. On cold snowy Northern American days that had forced people to stay inside and off the slick roads, Elizabeth had made thick stomach-filling soups while pans of bread dough sat on the hearth in front of the home's old fireplace and rose to perfection. "What are you making? It smells like banana bread."

"That's exactly what it is," Abigail replied with a big smile. She turned to face her company and wiped her hands on her apron, leaving prints of white powder.

"Bananas? On a transporter? How did you make that happen?"

Elizabeth knew that thick-skinned apples stored in humidity and at a cool thirty-degrees were standard on a transporter, just like root vegetables which could be guaranteed to remain edible for the four-month journey. Foods which were more perishable, like bananas, were only sent on short flights to places like the International Space Station and Mock Earth; they were unheard of for a long flight.

Abigail chuckled. "I'm not sure but I'm grateful. There was a mix-up in cargo at the airport. Somehow a crate of bananas meant for Mock Earth ended up on one of our pallets. Their loss. Our gain. They were getting pretty mushy by the time they were discovered but perfect for banana bread. I managed to make a few dozen loaves."

"You'll have plenty of happy passengers." Elizabeth took a small piece of bread which Abigail handed to her. Its taste reminded her of home and grocery stores and warm ovens. "Delicious," she murmured when she finished swallowing.

"I have something for Acorn if you're okay with it."

"Sure, go ahead," Elizabeth said. She set the boy onto the nearest counter and watched as he tried his first banana which Abigail had beat into a thick smooth consistency. "Are you sure you don't mind watching him? Jack will be by to pick him up in twenty minutes."

"I don't mind at all," Abigail replied. She gently held a spoon with banana pulp in Aaron's mouth and chuckled when the boy, enjoying his first taste, eagerly grabbed at the utensil. "You go off to your tutoring session and leave this little one to me."

* * *

Elizabeth hurried down the stairwell.

The tutoring session had lasted longer than she had expected. Her young pupil had been eager but hopeless in understanding what Elizbeth had been trying to teach her. Elizabeth had finally ended up using her instant-translation device to get her points across but hearing her own words translated into Japanese wasn't going to help her young student learn English. By the time the girl had finally said "Good Bye" – although first she had incorrectly said 'Good morning' and then 'Good night', Elizabeth was already twenty minutes late to pick up Aaron.

She was then delayed another fifteen minutes by an encounter in the corridor with the father of another one of her students. The man, who professed himself to be something of an educator himself, wanted to discuss her views on art in the classroom.

Getting to the security office level, Elizabeth pushed open the stairwell door and wondered if she just might have time for that nap before dinner.

* * *

"Hello," she said pleasantly when she saw the ship's First Officer sitting in front of an array of screens in the transporter's security center. The room was small enough that she could immediately see that Jack wasn't there.

"Jack's not here," the man unnecessarily explained as he looked away from a screen and turned to Elizabeth. "He just left to send a message. He should be back in ten minutes."

"Oh, okay. I was actually looking for Aaron," Elizabeth explained.

"Did you lose that kid again?" the First Officer asked incredulously.

"No, I didn't lose him!"

"We have artificial gravity so he can't be floating around. How could you lose him?"

"He's not lost."

"Well he's not with Jack," the man said pointedly. "I thought that he can't even walk yet. How can you lose a kid that can't even walk yet?"

Elizabeth didn't like the way the man was looking at her. As if in disbelief that she had somehow managed to misplace the baby again.

"I didn't lose him!" an insulted Elizabeth repeated and involuntarily gave a little stomp of a foot.

"You know, it took two hours and a total search of the ship until we found out where that emergency level was from after he took it," the man said with exasperation. "Please tell me you haven't lost him again."

"I just told you. I didn't lose him!" she retorted.

"Where is he?" the man challenged with a superior jut of his chin.

"He's . . . he's . . . on the transporter," she stammered.

"Geez, I'd hate to imagine how you managed him back on Earth," the man muttered with a roll of his eyes.

Without another word, but with a small of huff of disgust, Elizabeth turned and marched out of the office.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth," Abigail said when her friend showed up and her son wasn't waiting for her. "Jack sent a message that he wouldn't be able to pick him up. Everything was fine. He loved the banana and I was making a little more mushed up for him when I must have dropped a peel on the floor . . . ." Abigail paused and a frown briefly formed on her face.

" . . . although, I don't remember doing that," she added "Maybe Aaron did it," she mumbled.

"Not that I'm accusing him!" she added hurriedly. "He's so full of energy! And seems to like throwing things. It's so strange because I can't imagine he's ever seen dodgeball but I'd swear that little boy of yours was trying to throw stuff to hit someone. It started with his socks. He pulled them off his feet and threw them at me –"

Elizabeth remained silent but cringed slightly as she imagined where Aaron had gotten the idea of throwing things.

"Then he threw his spoon. A bit of banana. His bowl. Just watching things fly as far as his little fist could manage to get them. More like tosses or dropping the stuff, but he sure was trying," Abigail continued speaking as she wiped a cloth along the counter. "And then one of my staff came in carrying a crate of water, slipped on the banana peel, and fell. I know. It's a cliché, but it happened."

Abigail threw the cloth in the auto-cleaner and moved to her utensil rack. She took down a large knife with a serrated blade and began slicing loaves of bread.

"Was he hurt?"

"Cracked his forehead on the floor. Split it right open. Not life-threatening. Just a bloody mess. You know how forehead cuts can be. It was Tom. Anyway, I had to call in the hazmat team – it's protocol, and Aaron started fussing, and the floor was slippery, and the loaves needed to come out of the oven –"

"Where is Aaron?" Elizabeth interrupted. She was beginning to wonder if Abigail even remembered that she had shown up to retrieve her son.

"The twin girls stopped by. They like coming in and watching me work. They offered to take him off my hands. Not that he was a problem, "Abigail hurriedly explained. "It's just with the hazmat crew and the loaves and having to get dinner ready for tonight, I was pretty busy."

"It's okay, I'll go get him," Elizabeth said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You know I appreciate any time you can watch him. I'll see you tonight at dinner."

"Here," Abigail called out. She approached Elizabeth and handed her the hard object with the soft rubber coating. "I forgot to give them his teether."

* * *

"He's not here," Linda explained when Elizabeth stopped at the cabin adjoining the Thornton's. "The girls were watching him but he kept crying. He's usually so happy but he just was getting crankier and crankier. We tried to get him to take a nap, but he kept fussing so we decided to take him for a walk and we ran into Cassie. She offered to take him."

"Cassie? From the medical unit?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah. I hope that's okay. I didn't think you'd mind because she's a medic. And she said that she'd take him the infirmary and have the doc look at him. I'm sure he's okay. I think he was probably just teething but we didn't have his teething toy."

"He was crying, Mrs. Thornton," Susie piped up from her perch on one of the bunks.

* * *

Elizabeth no longer hurried to get to Aaron. She had hurried from tutoring to Jack's office. Then hurried from Jack's office to the kitchen. Then hurried from the kitchen to her neighbors' quarters. She was tired of hurrying.

She wasn't even close to the infirmary. She had to go all the way back to another level and to the other end of the transporter to get to it. All she wanted to do was get her son and take a nap.

 _This is like de je vu. All over again_ , she thought wryly as she dragged her legs. _Me hunting down Aaron somewhere on the transporter._

 _How can a baby be this much work?_

 _He can't even walk yet! Just that adorable little crawl of his._

 _So much drama with him._

 _Oh, my goodness, is it possible, he's Julie's son?!_

 _No, don't be stupid. He's my son. Obviously. Mine and Jack's._

 _Which means he's got my confidence._

 _Jack's bravery._

 _My independent streak._

 _Jack's love of the wilderness._

 _My curiosity._

 _Jack's investigative nature._

 _My habit of sometimes jumping first without thinking things through._

 _Jack's determination._

 _My crying._

 _Dear Lord, what are we in for?_

 **UP NEXT: Chapter 78**

 **P.S. That little boy is adorable but oh my, a combination of Jack and Elizabeth means he's always in one predicament or another!**

 **P.S.S. Thanks again for all your reviews over the course of my story. I have loved reading them.**


	78. Chapter 78 - Boys

CHAPTER 78 - BOYS

"Hi sweetie," a smiling Elizabeth called out to her son when the door slid open to the infirmary and she saw the little boy.

"Hi, Cassie," she said as she gave a friendly smile to Lt. Cassiopeia Greenview, while moving to her son who was sitting on the floor watching a computer screen of graphics and listening to classical music.

Elizabeth picked up Aaron Daniel and gave him a quick kiss on one of his pudgy cheeks.

Noticing a piece of cloth attached to each tiny hand like some sort of make-shift mittens, she gently began pulling them off as she held the boy against her chest. "What's with the hand covers?" she asked the other woman.

"His nails are a bit long and we were worried he would scratch himself, so we covered his hands," a somewhat anxious Cassie replied with her normal nervous tone. At least, it was always nervous around Elizabeth. Ever since the first time they had met over the condom debacle. "We didn't want to cut his nails without your permission," Cassie explained.

"That was very nice of you, thanks," Elizabeth said appreciatively. "I can cut them now if you have some small clippers."

Aaron, glad to be in his mother's arms, smiled and then turned his attention back to the computer screen, straining to watch it from his position.

When the young medic went to retrieve a pair of nail clippers, her shaking hand knocked a tray of supplies onto the ground, causing a clatter of noise which startled both Elizabeth and Aaron.

Cassie, seeming more edgy than her usual worried self, bent down to gather the scattered needles, clippers, and tongue depressors, which had spread in different directions across the sterile floor.

"Ahh, Mrs. Thornton," the doctor spoke out as he entered the room and saw Elizabeth.

He set his laptop on a nearby counter and briefly glanced at Cassiopeia, who was on her hands and knees looking under a desk, before returning his attention to Elizabeth. "You've come to retrieve your son. Do you have any questions about his condition?"

"Not really," Elizabeth said pleasantly. Aaron Daniel sat on her hip and happily patted her face in rhythm to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. "I'm just going to clip his nails."

"That's a good idea. But what about the problem with pain? Any concerns?"

"No, we're okay."

"Really? No questions?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I know teething can be painful for babies. Apparently, an iced washcloth didn't work, but he seems perfect now. I guess my only question is whatever did you use?" she said in mild but pleasant surprise. "He seems totally pain-free. And really into classical music," she laughed as she gently pulled the baby's hand away from her cheek.

The doctor clicked a button to turn off the music and turned to Cassiopeia. "Didn't you tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Elizabeth spoke up.

"Not yet, Doctor," Cassiopeia hurriedly replied. "I was . . . um just about to.. . to. .. explain the situation. . . and then you came in and. . . .I think that you could maybe explain it better than me if you wanted to. Not that you need to because you're the doctor but if you thought you could do a better job than me. I mean obviously you could do a better job than me because you're the doctor but if you are telling me to explain it, I will. I'm just not sure how much you want me to explain. About it. To her. Right now."

Cassiopeia took a gulp of air after her long rambling which had Elizabeth staring at her as if the medic might be having a panic attack.

"Need to tell me what?" Elizabeth repeated, although she didn't think that whatever would be terribly important. Teething was natural for all babies.

Elizabeth juggled Aaron in her arms as the little boy now pulled at her hair.

"Your son was having some gum pain-"

"I know. He's teething," she replied as she pulled her hair from her giggling son's grip.

"Right. And normally we would recommend a mild analgesic gel," the doctor continued after Elizabeth's interruption. "However," he paused for a second before continuing, "we are not stocked for having a child on board. As you know, it was very last minute."

Elizabeth ran her hand over Aaron's mouth, wiping some drool from his cute baby lips and chin.

"I know. But so far, things are going okay," she noted casually. She gathered a small diaper bag that was on the chair and slung it over her shoulder.

"I had a list of last-minute supplies to add to the inventory when I was notified of your son's addition to the manifest, but obviously basic supplies alone are not always sufficient. Knowledge and experience are necessary."

Elizabeth had no clue what the doctor was talking about. "He's fine now. So, whatever Cassie did worked, or else his incoming tooth isn't bothering him anymore. Thank you."

The doctor cleared his throat. "Lt. Greenview is an excellent medic. When it comes to adults. . . . "

Aaron babbled gleefully as he pulled on Elizabeth's messenger bracelet and smooshed the button on it. She absent-mindedly removed his hands before he sent a message, and tried to focus on the discussion at hand.

Elizabeth glanced at Cassiopeia, who was now looking steadily at the floor either in an effort to find something or to avoid Elizabeth's gaze. "Okay, well thanks again," Elizabeth told her.

". . . . She is, however, naïve when it comes to babies as young as your son," the doctor continued.

Elizabeth stopped moving towards the door. "I'm confused. Is something wrong?"

The doctor put out his hand to stop Elizabeth from reacting. "Now there's nothing to be worried about. It's just a mild inconvenience."

"Inconvenience?"

"Your son's health is not in jeopardy in any way. As long as you keep an eye on him. Or, if you'd like, we can keep him here under observation since it's our fault."

"Your _fault_? What's your fault?"

Elizabeth stared at the doctor and medic and then, before they could respond, she suddenly and hurriedly set Aaron on the examining table. Without bothering to waste another second, she immediately began the standard inventory that becomes an automatic process for every woman beginning on the day she becomes a mother.

 _Ten fingers._

 _Ten toes._

 _Two ears._

 _Two eyes._

An anxious Elizabeth, still wondering what fatal, incurable, and possible amputation injury had happened to her son, pushed up the fabric on her son's onesie and ran her hands along his legs.

 _Two legs_

 _Of course, he has two legs,"_ she realized stupidly. _I already counted ten toes._

 _No rash on his legs._

She hurriedly unbuttoned the snaps.

 _No rash on his stomach._

 _One belly button still there. Where else would it be._

 _No burns._

 _Oh, God! Maybe he's a hemophiliac! Internal bleeding!_

 _No, he's not, s_ he thought with a brief sigh of relief _. No bruises._

It was when she pushed up the arm sleeves that she noticed several long scratches on one of his arms.

Elizabeth lifted her face and stared at the other two adults in the room.

"What happened?" she asked with a mild frown. "Did he scratch himself? Is that why you were worried about his nails? It doesn't look that bad," she noted as she examined his left forearm.

His normal pale perfect baby skin had four long dark-pink marks.

 _They're just scratches,_ she again thought with relief. _Not bloody gouges left by an unfortunate accident with a wood-chipper or mad ax-man. Thank goodness!_ Although, if she had stopped to think about it, she would have remembered that the transporter didn't have a wood-chipper or a mad ax-man on it.

"I'm surprised he scratched himself so often", she added with mild curiosity.

"Perhaps you should sit down, Mrs. Thornton," the doctor instructed. He motioned to a chair.

"Is there a problem? With the scratches? Did you put antibiotic cream on them?"

"Yes, yes, of course, we did. The scratches are fine," he replied dismissively. "Let's get back to his teething pain. As I understand it, - I wasn't here when your son was brought in – he arrived upset about a tooth coming in. Sore gums."

"He was crying," Cassiopeia interjected. "I felt really bad for him."

"I've been giving him a teething toy and a cold washcloth to help," Elizabeth explained.

She didn't bother taking the doctor's suggestion to sit down as she didn't see that the situation was that serious. She could handle four scratches. Elizabeth didn't like to see her son's perfect skin damaged, and it was his first injury, but she knew that it was bound to happen sometime. Her little boy was growing up. Mild injuries – bumps and boo boos - were a part of being a healthy adventuresome boy.

She remembered the old saying that little boys were made of snips, and snails and puppy dog tails. Aaron would be like Jack. Rough and tumble at times. And sweet and caring and nurturing at other times.

Her shoulders sagged in gratitude that no bones were broken and she wondered if pediatricians back home on Earth were this attentive to babies getting their first teeth or simple scratches.

 _I suppose it's because he's the only baby on board and he's technically listed as a scientific study._

 _Gosh, by the time we get back to Earth, I'm going to be spoiled with all this medical attention and not having to wait for appointments for him,_ she thought as she looked at the doctor and medic.

"And that was very admirable to use an ice cloth or teething toy. I would recommend the same thing to any mother. Unfortunately, . . .," the doctor gave Cassiopeia a stern look before continuing, "Lieutenant Greenview gave your son a pain relief medication more suitable for an adult."

A stunned Elizabeth jerked her head from the doctor to her son.

The little boy was babbling gleefully as he pulled on Elizabeth's shirt in an attempt to pull it open so he could nurse. She gently removed Aaron's hands, and vaguely thought that he wasn't due for a feeding for another two hours. The second she moved his hand, the baby reached for her breasts again.

"You gave him medicine? _Adult_ medicine?"

Cassiopeia nodded guiltily.

"You over-dosed my son? But he's fine. He's hungry. He's happy," Elizabeth said in confusion.

"He is fine," the doctor said re-assuredly. "No serious side-effects to worry about."

A sudden thought caused Elizabeth's eyes to widen in alarm. She felt herself becoming hysterical but didn't care.

"Did you have to pump his stomach?!" she shrieked. "Oh my God, you had to pump his stomach! You over-dosed him and then pumped his little baby stomach! You –"

"No. Calm down" the doctor interrupted.

"You pumped his precious adorable baby stomach!" she shrilly accused them.

"We did not pump your son's stomach," the doctor said firmly. "Calm down. He's just been given a medication that is not necessarily suitable for someone of his age and size."

Elizabeth's eyes remained wide in fear.

"You poisoned him?!"

"Poison can be an ambiguous word," the doctor observed after first cringing from Elizabeth's high-pitched voice. "Was it the wrong medication for him? Yes. Will it cause his death or illness? Absolutely not. Will it make him feel different for a while? Yes."

Elizabeth looked at her happy son who didn't seem to have a care in the world other fiddling with her shirt and grabbing for her breasts.

"It may make him a bit hungry. A minor side-effect," the doctor added casually when he noticed Elizabeth's gaze.

"He's happy and hungry," Elizabeth mumbled quietly before the meaning of the doctor's words finally infiltrated Elizabeth's worried mind.

"YOU GOT HIM HIGH?! YOU GOT MY BABY HIGH?!"

A guilty Cassiopeia cringed at Elizabeth's outburst.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she wailed. "It was an accident. He's very happy!"

"MY SEVEN-MONTH OLD BABY IS STONED?!"

 **Up Next: Chapter 79. The Prognosis.**


	79. Chapter 79 - Prognosis

**CHAPTER 79 - THE PROGNOSIS**

Two minutes later, the doctor had only mildly calmed down Elizabeth by promising that her son was not stoned. The small boy had simply been given a medication that was not suitable due to an infant's metabolism. He was not poisoned, had not had his stomach pumped, and was not high on drugs.

"It's a little more . . . serious than that," the doctor explained after first struggling to come up with the right word to describe the severity.

"More serious than poisoned or high on drugs?" Elizabeth gasped. "He's seven-months old. What's more serious than that?"

She glanced at her son one more time to reassure herself that he had all his body parts. They were all there. She could see every limb.

Suddenly, she caught her breath in frightful dread.

Like a good mother, she had ensured that he had two arms, two legs, ten toes, ten fingers, two ears, and two eyes. But she had forgotten one very important part. A part that Jack would never have forgotten to check.

Pushing the doctor out of the way, Elizabeth lay little Aaron on the examination table and hurriedly opened his diaper.

She said a silent prayer of gratitude when she saw what she was looking for.

"What are you doing?" the confused doctor asked.

"Making sure he's all there." Elizabeth closed Aaron's diaper and gathered the boy back into her arms.

"Mrs. Thornton. Your son is not missing any important parts. He's not missing ANY parts. We are an infirmary, not a medieval chop-shop. As I said before, your son is pain-free."

"Thank goodness for that", Elizabeth declared. "But if he's not high, not poisoned, not feverish, and not missing any parts, what's wrong with him? He looks perfectly fine."

"He's pain-free."

"But what's wrong with him."

"I just told you."

"Noooo." Elizabeth objected. "You didn't."

"I told you that he's pain-free."

"But what's WRONG with him?!" Elizabeth pestered.

"As I was trying to explain earlier, your son – who is normally a happy baby anyway– is not bothered by his erupting tooth because, temporarily – based on the medication Lt Greenview administered to him – he cannot feel pain. He is not stoned or high or whatever term you used. He simply cannot feel pain."

"He can't feel his sore gums," Elizabeth repeated more to herself than to the doctor as she tried to gather what had happened to her precious son.

"He cannot feel ANY pain," the doctor said deliberately.

"Any pain?" she asked in confusion.

"No pain. None. Nada. He cannot feel any pain in his entire body until the medicine wears off."

"He's totally pain-free?"

"Exactly."

"That's it? That's all that's wrong with him?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you just say that? Why did you get me all worried?" Elizabeth shook her head in frustration. "Now I feel stupid for getting so upset," she said in mild embarrassment. "So, he's hungry and can't feel pain, it's not a big deal."

"And he's not tired. That's another side effect. Lots of energy," Cassiopeia piped up, and then lowered her head in shame.

The doctor gave his assistant an irritated look and let out a deep breath before speaking. "Pain is there for a reason. It lets a body know something is wrong. Doctors appreciate when a patient has pain because it lets us know that something in the body needs to be fixed."

"You _want_ my son to be in pain?" a bewildered Elizabeth questioned.

"No. I would, however, like your son to be able to _FEEL_ pain. Until your son can feel pain again, he's a bit of a danger. To himself."

"How can he be a danger to himself?" Elizabeth questioned.

"If he can't feel pain, he can't know that something is bad for him."

"But _I'LL_ know. I'll take care of him. Nothing bad will happen to him. There's no reason he'd be feeling pain."

"Do not let him out of your sight until he can feel pain again," the doctor instructed and then nodded to the boy's arm. "For instance, the scratches on his arms. He didn't feel any pain when he scratched himself the first time. And the blood fascinated him. To him, it was like painting or coloring with magic fingers. He draws a line with his fingernail and a red line appears. His skin is an incredible canvas with its own built-in paint."

"That's why you covered his hands?"

"Exactly. He would have just kept scratching himself in amazement that he could make long red lines appear. He showed no symptoms of pain. That's how I first knew that something was amiss, and I questioned Lt. Greenview as to what she had given him."

"So, I'll clip his nails," Elizabeth remarked. "Problem solved." She again breathed a sigh of relief and moved to leave the infirmary. She had had enough of over-cautious medical professionals.

"Mrs. Thornton, if he falls and injures himself. He could have a hairline fracture of a bone and we wouldn't know because he wouldn't show any indication of pain. He'd keep moving the limb causing further damage."

"He could break a limb and not feel it?" Elizabeth's forehead wrinkled as she looked in disbelief at the doctor, who nodded and then continued speaking.

"Exactly. Or he can scratch an eye and not realize it's causing serious damage because it's not painful. I've already put stain in them to see if he scratched the corneas without our noticing but they're fine. Nevertheless, it's still a danger if he picks up an item and pokes his eye. You wouldn't even know because he wouldn't cry out in pain."

"But –"

"He can bang his head over and over again on a wall because he likes the vibration and never know he's giving himself a concussion," the doctor continued over Elizabeth's interjection.

"He's not an idiot. He's not going to bang his –"

"He could put something in his ear and rupture his ear drum", the doctor said, cutting off Elizabeth before she could complete her sentence. "He cannot be left unwatched."

"I watch him all the time. Except for a brief time every now and again when I have someone else watch him," she said dismissively as she tried to comprehend the situation. "It's not a problem."

"If you're having a cup of hot coffee and you leave it unattended even for a second, he could put his hand in it, get a second degree burn and not even remove his hand because he doesn't feel the pain."

"Fine! I won't drink hot coffee. Or hot tea. Or even hot soup, how's that? Stop being such a doomsayer!"

"You must watch everything he does until the medication wears off."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Elizabeth assured the doctor.

"He cannot be left out of your sight. Is that clear?"

"Yes. It's fine," she irritably reassured him again. She had lost her patience with the pessimistic man. _Geez,_ _who knew that doctors could be such hypochondriacs! He's neurotic about keeping Aaron in perfect condition as if he's a specimen instead of a boy!_

She tried to hide the rolling of her eyes at the doctor's abundance of worrying. Aaron was almost always with her and Jack, and their quarters were small enough that she could easily keep an eye on the small boy. Readjusting her bag on one arm and a babbling happy Aaron in the other, she headed towards the door.

 _So much worry over nothing. These medical professionals need more patients to think about._

Elizabeth paused in the doorway when she realized she may not be able to take a nap right when they got back to their quarters if Aaron was still awake and a 'danger to himself.'

"This medicine you gave him, how long until it wears off? An hour? Two hours?"

"Sixteen", Cassiopeia gulped. "Maybe."

"SIXTEEN?! HOURS?! MAYBE?!"

Cassiopeia cringed and she turned her head away before speaking meekly into the floor. "Or up to three days."

"The automatic door made a thudding sound as it banged into a stunned Elizabeth who stood immobile in the doorway.

"THREE DAYS?! HE'S GOING TO BE EXTRA HUNGRY, NOT TIRED, AND I CAN'T STOP TAKE MY EYES OFF OF HIM EVEN FOR A SECOND FOR THREE DAYS?!

 **Up NEXT: Chapter 80** 😊 Poor Elizabeth.


	80. Chapter 80 - Attitude

**CHAPTER 80 – ATTITUDE**

"I want Jack", Elizabeth pathetically mumbled again after first standing, and then sitting forlornly in the doctor's office.

She was numb. She had just been told, repeatedly, that she needed to watch her energetic seven-month-old son like a hawk for the next seventy-two hours.

An unconcerned Aaron Daniel wobbly stood on her thighs facing her. His pudgy little hands played with her face while he tried to balance himself on his legs.

"Now, Mrs. Thornton. It's not so bad," the stern doctor noted. "Things like this just happen sometime."

Elizabeth gave the man an incredulous look.

He took her silence as weakness of a privileged woman. "Yes, it will be a bit tiresome. You won't be able sleep unless someone is awake to watch him. Yes, you'll likely have to supplement your breast milk with food. I dare say your milk supply won't be able keep up with him -"

"No, I don't suppose it will," she muttered in agreement but the doctor had already moved on to his next thought.

"Yes, you'll have to change your schedule, but I'm sure you agree that's a small sacrifice to make. It will be an inconvenience but its only temporary. Three days at most. You'll go through more diapers than usually due to his increased appetite so you'll have to keep up with washing them. And yes, you'll have absolutely no time for yourself. But isn't that what being a mother is all about?"

If Elizabeth hadn't been brought up with impeccable manners, she would have let out a string of expletives. Instead, she kept them silently to herself and slowly stood up. She securely held Aaron to her chest, and chose to ignore the doctor and the medic.

Without a word, she left the infirmary.

* * *

Elizabeth had gone only ten steps down the corridor when she turned around and walked back towards the clinic. The arms holding her son were soft and loving, but the rest of her body was rigid.

The doctor and Lt. Greenview stopped talking the moment they saw the door slide open.

Elizabeth, her expression hardened, stood in the doorway.

Her steel blue eyes blazed with anger, but despite feeling much like a mother bear defending her cub, Elizabeth remained stone cold still as she spoke.

The harsh tone in her voice didn't require anyone's imagination as to what she was feeling.

"You are never to administer another medication to my son without my permission or my husband's permission. You are never to examine him, or even touch him, again unless you have my permission or my husband's permission. You are never, and I mean _never_ , to even approach him or make a suggestion about his care without my or my husband's permission."

She focused her next terse comment solely on the doctor, "You will do a better job of training your staff so that no further mistakes are made. My son deserves better. All children you may treat deserve better."

"Mrs. Thornton –"

"There are two things you need to remember," Elizabeth said sternly as she cut him off. "One, my husband has the authority to have you both relieved of your positions. And two, I am a mother and you have messed with my son."

"I think –"

Elizabeth's glare caused the doctor to go silent.

"I suggest you think very carefully about your next words, or whether you want to say anything at all," she continued. "Because I am not in a very good mood knowing that your assistant has stupidly drugged my son without need, gave him the wrong medication, and has put his health in danger."

The doctor and medic didn't dare disagree but shamefully stood silently while Elizabeth, holding Aaron in her arms, walked out without waiting for a response.

* * *

The Thornton quarters were quiet as Elizabeth sat on her berth watching Aaron play with toes. She hoped he didn't try to pull one off.

The small boy was blissfully unaware of the drama that his incoming tooth had brought about.

While breastfeeding the boy, who seemed to think she was an automatic milk dispenser, Elizabeth had sent a message to Jack asking if he was busy but had gotten an automatic generic reply: **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer**.

She decided to leave a second message anyway. She didn't actually need Jack's help, but she felt like reaching out to him.

 _Aaron and I are fine but something unusual has come up. I'll tell you all about it at dinner._

The same generic message came back immediately. **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer**.

Even though she knew that it was useless, Elizabeth typed again _._

 _Just wait until you hear about it. So unbelievable. But true. What a story. I may need a hug._

 **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer.**

Elizabeth sent another message. _He'll be probably getting a lot of apple sauce and banana mush over the next few days. And maybe you can take him swimming to get out some of his energy. You'll never guess why._

 **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer.**

Elizabeth felt herself become slightly irritated at the unsympathetic words coming over her messenger bracelet but she had no one else to talk to at the moment so she continued to type.

 _I know that you're in a meeting but message me whenever you get a chance. No hurry._

 **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer**.

 _Message me as soon as your meeting is over_ _._

 **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer**.

Elizabeth growled at the stupid message, and immediately typed another.

 _Don't message, just come find me when your meeting is over. Please_ _._

 **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer**.

Elizabeth furiously typed with an unrealistic but nonetheless hopeful thought that in the last split second, Jack's meeting had ended and he had checked his messages _._

 _Come back to the room as soon as possible_.

 **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer**.

 _Get back to me ASAP! This is an emergency and I don't want the damn First Officer! ,_ she typed furiously.

 **I am currently in a meeting. I will get back to you as soon as I am able. If this is an emergency, please contact the ship's First Officer**.

Elizabeth yanked the bracelet off her wrist and threw it onto one of the berths.

* * *

Their quarters seemed tiny, sterile, boring.

Elizabeth was tired, slightly overwhelmed with what the doctor had told her, and the only adult in the room. She knew it wasn't an emergency, and she could certainly handle Aaron. But still. . . . it would have been nice to at least have Jack around to give her a sympathetic "you got this girl" , or a kiss, or a "we'll handle it together. No worries." Or maybe even a "you're a teacher. If this were to happen to anyone, you're the most qualified person to handle an energetic child, and I'm so incredibly glad I married such a beautiful smart capable loving woman who can handle anything thrown at her with grace and dignity." Okay, she realized maybe that was a bit much. But still.

She had two choices. She could cry. Or she could make the best of the situation.

Aaron Daniel Thornton was adorable, so crying seemed totally inappropriate and self-indulgent.

She threw back her shoulders, sat up straighter, and smacked her hands on her thighs. "Well, little one. We've got a lot of time to fill."

* * *

Elizabeth had to pee.

She had been playing with Aaron in their quarters for forty minutes, and had had to pee for the last five.

And like most woman in the first year after giving birth, she wouldn't be able to hold it much longer.

 _I can leave him alone for a minute, can't I?_ She watched the boy crawl under a berth and pull out one of her slippers. He stuck it in his mouth, got a significant amount of drool on it, and then took it out and examined it again.

 _No. Better take him with me,_ she decided.

* * *

Elizabeth valiantly tried to hold in her bladder as she lay on her belly and hurriedly coaxed Aaron out from under a berth. Once he was in her arms, she darted towards the bathroom and jiggled impatiently while she waited for the door to slide open.

She didn't bother to lock the door to the adjoining room. There was no time. With one hand she hurriedly put Aaron on the hard floor next to the toilet. With the other hand she yanked down her pants and then her underwear.

Her bare bottom was inches from the toilet seat when Aaron made his move.

"No! Don't go there!" she shouted out, but it was too late, he had crawled towards the door to the suite-mates room, and the door was now beginning to slide open. She could see a glimpse of lockers and someone's legs dangling from an upper berth.

"No!" she yelled again. But Aaron ignored her.

Elizabeth jumped from the toilet.

 _Oomph._ Her legs tangled in her pants and she fell face forward in a clumsy dance. Like a pathetic losing contestant in a potato sack race.

With her legs splayed in an uncomfortable position, she frantically thrust out an arm, grabbed hold of Aaron's waist, and pulled him back it the room before he made it all the way across the threshold.

"Back here," she ordered through gritted teeth and a mess of hair which had fallen in her face.

She could hear girls' voices from a few feet away through the open doorway but whoever was in there hadn't seen her yet.

With her pants still around her ankles, she scrambled to her knees, which by tomorrow would be bruised from the fall, and forcefully smacked one hand on the sensor to close and lock the door. She kept another hand tightly on Aaron who was attempting to squirm away.

When the door immediately slid closed, she breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't been observed in an embarrassing situation. Caught with her pants down was a taunt she could do without.

She let go of her tight grip on Aaron who was giggling as if this were a new game. "Nice escape try, little one."

Elizabeth stood up and awkwardly shuffled back towards the toilet while tightly squeezing the muscles of her lower torso.

Aaron, not discouraged by his mother's actions at putting an end to his adventure into the adjoining suite, crawled towards the other door.

"Aaron! Please just hold still so I can sit on the toilet and pee!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she changed direction and once again hobbled after him.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the buzzing sound emitted from her bracelet caused Elizabeth to look away from her locker and toward her berth where she had earlier flung the device.

Holding Aaron with one arm, she picked up the bracelet and read the message from Jack.

 **Just got you messages. On my way to room now. Are you okay?!**

 _I messaged you almost an hour ago_ _,_ she typed back clumsily.

 **I know. Sorry. Was in a meeting. You doing okay?**

 _I peed all over your son. How do you think I'm doing?_


	81. Chapter 81 - Jack's Response

**CHAPTER 81 – JACK'S RESPONSE**

Jack kept up a brisk pace as he made his way along one of the transporter's many corridors leading away from the Communication Center.

While the CC – as it was affectionately known by the passengers and crew - wasn't necessarily the most comfortable place for an hour-long meeting, it was the only place that had allowed for satellite-to-satellite relays so that people on Earth could communicate with the ship with only a minimum delay in time – and that was only because the transporter was still fairly close to Earth.

Putting aside his unanswered questions from his meeting, Jack tried to make sense out of Elizabeth's messages.

He decided not to waste time waiting for the elevator, and headed towards the stairwell.

Elizabeth had assured him that nothing serious was wrong, but her long string of nine messages in less than two minutes was clearly an indication that she was in need of either venting, a hug, or both.

Jack missed a step as he replayed the most recent message in his mind.

 _She peed on Aaron?_

 _Can't be._

 _Must be a typo that was then auto-corrected._

 _For what?_

 _What could it possibly be an auto-correct for?_

He thought for a moment. Running various letters and words through his mind as he slowed his pace, but he couldn't come up with a logical possibility.

 _Nothing._

Jack shook his head in bewilderment

 _She really did mean that she peed on our son._

 _She actually PEED on our son!_

 _What goes on with her?!_

* * *

"How's my favorite boy?" Jack asked his son as he took the small boy from Elizabeth's arms and planted a kiss on the boy's soft baby cheek immediately after walking into their quarters. He was rewarded with a big smile; it was obvious that the boy enjoyed being back with one of his two favorite people.

"Why's his hair all wet? Ah geez, it's not –", a disgusted Jack didn't finish his question as he moved his face a few inches back from the boy's hair and looked at Elizabeth.

"No, it's not pee," she dismissed his concern. "You think I would let him wander around with pee in his hair? It's wet because I gave him a shower. After I peed on him."

* * *

Jack carried Aaron around the room, winced slightly when the boy pulled on his short hair, pretended to munch on the tiny fist shoved into his mouth, gently rocked the tiny body back and forth in a wide exaggerated swing, and finally sat on the floor to allow the energetic boy to crawl on him, all while Elizabeth provided a non-stop account of the last two hours of her life.

She went into so much detail that Jack thought it may just be an entire two hours until she finished talking.

. . . . he threw his socks. Obviously, he was mimicking me when I threw socks at you. He's a smart baby and learns quick. We'll need to be on our toes with him. . . .

. . . you weren't at your office, but that rude First Officer was there, and he said that you didn't have Aaron with you. I don't really like that man . . . .

. . . . and Abigail didn't directly blame him, but I'm pretty sure that she thinks he dropped the banana peel . . . . .

. . . Hazmat had to be called to wipe up the blood and sterilize the kitchen after Tom fell. But really, how hard could it have been for Tom to see a yellow peel on the floor? Even if he was carrying a case of water. Seem like he's a bit clumsy if you ask me.

. . . . I just wanted a nap! We didn't sleep well last night. Now I know why. He had another tooth coming in. . . . .

. . . Susie and Joyce tried their best but they didn't have his teething toy because Abigail was so preoccupied with making banana bread, - it was delicious by the way. She'll probably serve some as a dessert tonight. Anyhow, the kitchen was a mess, and with getting dinner started, she forgot to give his teether to the girls. I have it now, but he doesn't need it. . . . .

. . . . . Cassie gave him the wrong medication . . . .

. . . .the doctor seemed to think it wasn't that serious, but honestly, he needs to be written up, and so does Cassie. . . .

. . . . Of course, he _then_ told me how serious it actually was. So, which was it? Serious or not serious? It can't be both. Serious for me because I can't let the boy out of my sight for seventy-two hours, but not so serious that Cassie gets relieved of her duties or that Doc begs for my forgiveness. That seems very convenient for the doctor and Cassie. Putting it all on me, like I'm some mother who can't take proper care of my son without tons of instructions. Maybe if Cassie had followed proper instructions, she wouldn't have given our son the wrong medication! That doctor actually told me that maybe if I had more experience around children, I would be able to cope better! I'm a teacher and a mother! I can cope just fine! . . . .

. . . . . and I said . . . .

. . . I fed him again. He acted like he was starving. Gosh, my breasts actually hurt now. . . . .

. . .didn't lock the door and he was crawling. Those new door sensors are getting to be a real bother . . .

* * *

"And that's what happened," she finally finished with a flourish, and then flopped backwards onto the berth. She sighed and waited for Jack to offer sympathy about her situation.

"Did you have to pee on him?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"That's all you got out of this?! That I had a slight accident?! What about the part about him not being able to feel pain?!"

* * *

When Jack apologized for having been too busy to pick up Aaron from Abigail, which would have prevented the whole sequence of events, Elizabeth took the blame for the entire incident.

"It's all my fault. I threw my t-shirt and my socks at you this morning. He's only doing what he sees me doing. That's what started everything. I taught him that throwing things was fun. He threw the banana peel, Tom slipped on it, Abigail got overwhelmed."

"It's not your fault."

"It is," Elizabeth said with resignation from her place on the berth. She was tempted to close her eyes and fall asleep, but her stomach growled, reminding her that it was dinner-time . "Why did you ever marry me? I am so much trouble."

"Jack? Did you hear me? I asked why you ever married me," she repeated, as she lay on her back and stared at the ceiling, when Jack didn't immediately respond.

"Oh, did you want an actual answer? I thought that was just some kind of rhetorical question."

"Yes," she answered as she jerked herself upward into a sitting position. "Now I actually would like an answer."

"Jack?"

"I'm thinking!"

* * *

The corridor near the Cafeteria had been crowded as hungry passengers and day crew-members made their way to the large room for the evening meal. Three weeks into the voyage meant that the passengers were not yet totally bored with the menu, but the intercom announcement of freshly baked banana bread for dessert had been a nice surprise. Like an unexpected present.

Jack had transferred Aaron to Elizabeth's arms at the doorway, told her to save him a seat, and promised to be back in ten minutes.

"I assume you heard," the doctor said when his clinic door slid open and Jack walked in. "I'm surprised you weren't here earlier. I was expecting you the moment your family left my office."

It was clear that the doctor had spent the last hours re-thinking how Elizabeth had dressed him down, and he had decided that he didn't like feeling like a chastised student of hers.

"I was in a meeting, but Elizabeth has told me everything," Jack explained.

"Before you get started, Officer Thornton, I think you should know that I don't appreciate your wife addressing me in that manner which she did."

"Really?"

"I am a professional, and have never had a patient injured in my care. Lt. Greenview is young and she made a mistake, but it didn't have any lasting consequences. Your son will be fine. He just needs to be watched carefully. I've spoken to Lt. Greenview and she feels entirely guilty about what occurred."

"She should," Jack said simply.

"She's extremely upset by the incident. She's spent the last hour crying and reviewing medical literature and medication side-effects and dosages so that she doesn't make another mistake."

"That's good."

"My brother warned me about your wife", the doctor, still feeling the sting of Elizabeth's words, informed Jack. "He took care of her when she was pregnant on her last flight."

"I remember."

"Said she was determined," the doctor said critically. "Selfless to the point of being irritating. Overly concerned with matters that she considered important."

"I think our son is important," Jack said. He looked across the room at Ensign Sooner, who was organizing supplies. Jack's eyes darted from the ensign to the door, and the medic immediately put down the object in his hand and scurried from the clinic.

"Well, yes. Obviously, he's important," the doctor admitted when the door slid closed leaving him and Jack alone. "But I mean her attitude as a whole was simply uncalled for. May I remind you that it is only because of my approval that your son has even been allowed on this flight. And it was my generosity that allowed for your wife to bring aboard that excessive amount of . . . STUFF that she insisted on bringing for him."

"And we appreciate that excess weight allowance," Jack agreed.

"Well. Good," the doctor replied in pleased surprise. He was slightly taken off guard by Jack's calm demeanor. "I would appreciate you having a word with your wife before things get out of control. I am the only doctor aboard this transporter and I will need to interact with your son, and your wife, over the next three and a half months."

Jack leaned back against a wall and look curiously at the doctor. "You want me to have a word with my wife?"

"Yes. About her attitude. I assume you've come to apologize on her behalf, but I would expect her to do so on her own."

"Doctor, Elizabeth told me what she said to you and Lt. Greenview," Jack said. "My wife was brought up a lady and she sees the best in people so it's highly unusual for her to be confrontational. If you think that I came here to apologize for her behavior, I believe you have entirely misunderstood the purpose for my visit. Like Elizabeth, I came here to remind you of two things. My own two things. One, I'm a father and you have messed with my son. Don't ever do that again. Two, you were condescending to my wife. Don't ever do that again. You, see, despite how I may tease her from time to time, she truly is the sun, and the moon, and stars to me. Keep that in mind the next time you talk to her and you even think about possibly being rude. And just so you know, my wife has an impeccable reputation. One word from her to the citizens of Coal Valley about her experiences with you, and I think you'll find your time there to be quite difficult. As for the remainder of this voyage, I expect you to spend the next three months being on your best and most professional behavior. If not, I'll see to it that you're written up for this medical error."

Without another word, Jack turned and walked out of the clinic. Aaron and Elizabeth were waiting for him in the cafeteria, and he had already decided that he had spent too much time away from them today.

* * *

On the lowest level of the ship, the machinery hummed in a soothing rhythm. The man on duty stood up from his swiveling chair and looked at his watch. He still had more than an hour before his shift ended and he'd have the opportunity to flirt with the cute woman from logistics. Pushing his blond hair off of his forehead, the Tech Sergeant decided to take a quick walk to stretch his legs.

The door had just slid closed behind him when the largest of pipes which ran the width of station made a small and out-of-the ordinary burping sound.

The water inside the three-foot wide in diameter metal cylinder burped one more time, then made a long echoing noise like a mythical giant gargling mouthwash.

By the time the Tech Sergeant returned two minutes later, the pipe had returned to its normal humming.

He sat back in his chair, none the wiser to the unusual process going on inside the pipe.


	82. Chapter 82 the first hours

**CHAPTER 82 - THE FIRST HOURS**

Jack and Elizabeth had plans to take turns watching Aaron. Jack would take the first seven-hour shift after dinner was finished, which would allow Elizabeth to get the much-needed sleep that had eluded her last night`.

"I'll keep him occupied. If he's still awake at the end of my shift, I'll bring him back and wake you up, then I'll get my sleep," Jack informed Elizabeth when they were back in their quarters after the ship's meal of vegetable-lasagna, steamed green beans, and fresh banana bread.

He changed Aaron's diaper, managing to avoid getting kicked by the boy's energetic legs, while Elizabeth got ready for bed as soon as the bathroom was empty of one of their suite-mates.

It wasn't ideal having four adults and two children share a small bathroom but Elizabeth had gotten used to this slight inconvenience caused by living on a transporter. Sometimes she felt like she was back at summer camp sharing a cabin with others, especially when the twins next door were giggling uncontrollable about something silly or talking about short-sheeting their parents' berths.

"Are you sure that you're okay staying up that long?" she asked as she spit toothpaste into the metal sink.

"I'll be fine. I'll drink coffee, and I've got some stuff to work on. Go on, kiss your son goodnight and off to bed with you," Jack instructed. He held his son out towards Elizabeth, who was already moving towards her berth.

"Good night, Acorn," she said as she promptly kissed the little boy on the head.

Jack threw a few things in a diaper bag, and swung the straps over one of his shoulders. He paused as his bracelet made a small beeping sound, letting him know of an incoming message. Setting the boy down on a berth, Jack read the message.

"What's up?" Elizabeth asked. She lifted her head from her pillow.

"Nothing to worry about," Jack replied but his voice had a hint of hesitancy in it.

"What's up?" she questioned again. She knew by his tone that despite his words that there was something causing concern.

"It looks like there was a problem on one of the lower levels. Don't worry. Go to sleep."

"Anything serious?"

"I think more of a hassle than anything. A burst pipe."

"Do you need to go?"

"Yeah," he admitted.

* * *

Jack had insisted that he could handle both Aaron and the clean-up from the water pipe explosion on sublevel 1 but he seemed exceedingly grateful when Elizabeth reached for Aaron and told Jack to go do what he had to do.

"It may be a while. They're asking for available people to help with clean-up and repair, and then I'll have to review the report," he told her quickly.

"I'll take the first shift. Just relieve me when you can," she replied tiredly.

Jack was only gone 2 minutes when Elizabeth received a message from him. It was short and sweet and just a single image but it made her smile. Standard images or icons had been deleted from all government-issued devices because they were considered frivolous. Only letters and numbers could be typed. But Elizabeth had found a way around the rule and still allow a little cute romance.

The first time she had shown him how to make the image on his keyboard, Jack had smiled and told her she really was good on computers.

"So I just hold down "ALT" while pressing the number three on the keypad?" he had asked after her instruction.

"You have to make sure the number lock is on. And you use the key pad, not the numbers along the top," she reminded him.

Every since then, he send it to her at odd times. Sometimes when he was just in the next room, sometimes when he was working late. Once when they were in the grocery store and he was in the milk aisle and she was in the cereal aisle torn between Lucky Charms or Wholesome Oats.

Right now, like always, the image filled her with happiness as she cuddled Aaron to her chest.

* * *

The lights which normally illuminated every corner of the passage had been dimmed at their standard time. Elizabeth let out a long yawn as she walked down the corridor.

Both she and Aaron had grown bored with their small cabin. There were only so many times that Elizabeth could play peek-a-boo under the sheets before she decided it was a stupid game. If she was there before the sheet was pulled up, she was obviously still there when the starched white fabric was held up by her hands.

 _Babies aren't idiots. Why would they think a person had just disappeared?_

 _Who invented such a silly illogical game?_

 _Probably some mom who only had to occupy their baby for thirty seconds._

The question now was what to do to occupy Aaron.

Linda from next door was working on a project, the twins were at a slumber party in one of the other cabins, and their father – who had handled raising twin girls – didn't feel confident watching an energic boy who couldn't feel pain and had politely remarked that he was a horrible babysitter and would be going to help with the pipe clean-up.

Knowing that Abigail had to feed the night shift worker's their breakfast, and then get in her sleep before preparing the breakfast for the morning shift, Elizabeth didn't bother to visit her.

When Aaron spit up a mouthful of milk and allowed it to dribble down his chin and onto his chest, Elizabeth decided that a bath was in order.

* * *

The laboratory was full of boring metal furniture, and devoid of any fabric except the soft washcloth and towel which Elizabeth had brought with her. It was as unlike her master bathroom in Liskow as possible. There was no soft rug for bare feet, no warming towel bar, no lotions of lavender or lemon verbena, no romantic candles. Instead there were bright lights, autoclaves for sterilizing odd tools, and large charts. There wasn't even a rubber ducky to keep Aaron occupied.

Elizabeth twice rinsed the large metal sink with plain water to make sure that it was free of caustic chemicals. To be sure that it was clean, she kept her hand in the warm liquid as she counted aloud for the boy.

 _It's never too early to teach him how to count,_ she reasoned with a shrug.

"One one-thousand."

"Two one-thousand."

"Three one-thousand."

"Four one-thousand."

"Five one-thousand."

When her hand didn't blister, lose its skin, shrivel up, turn blue, or fall apart, she assumed the sink which was normally used for experiments was safe for her precious son's body.

Ten minutes later, Aaron looked around with a bewildered expression on his face as if wondering why there was no more water in the sink.

"Because its all over me, silly," Elizabeth said with exasperation when he patted the shallow puddles at the bottom of the sink. "That's what happens when you splash like a duck."

Unfortunately, there was no more available water. The initial water had come from the small reservoir adjacent to the sink, but Elizabeth quickly realized that the burst pipe which Jack and at least fifteen others were currently working on meant that no more water was flowing through the pipes.

"Sorry baby. No more water tonight. We can try again tomorrow."

"Mrs. Thornton, if you don't mind turning off the lights on your way out, I'll be leaving now," a middle-aged man remarked as he walked across the room from an office on the side. The room had a double set of doors which Elizabeth had never been inside.

"Mr. Regents, Bertie? Isn't it? Your experiments. Are they dangerous?"

"Dangerous? Not really. I'm an ornithologist. I work with birds," he answered, slightly perplexed at her question. "I suppose I might get bit but that hasn't happened in years."

"Oh, I thought you used these sinks for chemicals."

"Nope. That's Samuel. He's the one always mixing things. I'm in the other room," he added with a nod to where he had just been. "Want to see my birds?"

"Whatever do you do with them?"

* * *

Armed with duct tape, two squishy balls, a diaper bag, a pair of rolled up socks, a cup of ice, a teething toy, a blanket, her laptop, and a baby who had no plans on sleeping anytime soon despite having spent a considerable amount of time talking to birds, Elizabeth made her way down to Level 4.

She walked until she got to Corridor A, which was the most isolated of the corridors. It was also one of the few which was carpeted, a luxury that was allowed because it was above the engine room and the carpeting added extra sound-proofing. The digital clock on the wall next to the entrance door beamed 2200 hrs in blue lights. Ten o'clock at night. The day-shift workers would be in their berths, the night-shift workers would be at their duty stations. No one would be wandering the hallway.

Elizabeth hadn't slept for more than thirty minutes in the past forty-eight hours. Last night's sleep had been continually interrupted by Aaron's incoming tooth, and today, the little boy had, for the first time ever, not taken two daily naps. She was going to try to stay awake as long as Aaron did, but she wasn't sure that even if she remained awake, she'd be able to keep up with his energy. That's where the tape came in handy.

Elizabeth stifled a yawn and set to work. She dumped her supplies on the floor, except for the duct tape. Moving down the right side of the hallway, she tore off a piece of duct tape and used it to cover the door sensor to each room, the stairwell, and the entrance hall. When she got to the end of the hallway, she reversed direction and did the same thing to the left side of the hallway.

"You're locked in, Acorn."

* * *

The digital clock beamed 2240 hrs.

Elizabeth stared at her computer screen, eager to watch a hologram. Hours earlier she had picked up the flash-drive at the CC after getting an intercom announcement that a message had finally arrived for passenger E. Thornton.

 _It's got to be from Julie. Finally._

 _She'd better not have destroyed our house!_

 _Or maybe it's from mother and father. Telling me that Julie's destroyed our home and is sitting in a jail cell somewhere. Or hiding in a jungle in the Amazon so I don't kill her._

Elizabeth put the flash-drive into the side port of her computer and glanced up at Aaron one more time.

For the last forty minutes, she had been throwing a ball or other object as far as she could down the hall for the small boy to chase after. When he crawled thirty or so feet to the object, he'd play with it until he became bored and then crawl the long way back to her. Then she'd throw the next item and repeat the whole process.

She felt slightly guilty for treating him like a puppy playing fetch, but she decided that her sanity over-ruled any proprietress.

 _Besides there's no one around to criticize my parenting skills._

 _They'll all asleep._

Confident that Aaron couldn't injure himself with the ball he was impossibly trying to take a bite out of, Elizabeth returned her gaze to her screen and pushed the play button.

The gossamer image of a man appeared in front of her.

 _Who is that?_

 _Julie's boyfriend?_

 _Is this someone I'm supposed to know?_

 _For Pete's sake! He's not even talking to me! This is that same stupid guy whose message I got last time. Only now he's talking about dating some girl on Coal Valley. You have got to be kidding me?!_

 _This message isn't even from Earth!_

 _It's not even for me!_

 _Stupid communication center mix-up!_

Elizabeth slammed shut her lap-top and struggled to her feet. "I'm coming, sweetie. Let's come up with another game to play," she called out to Aaron.

* * *

"Elizabeth, is that you? And the baby? What are you doing down here?" a woman's voice called out from behind Elizabeth. "Are you alright?"

Elizabeth, who was low to the floor on her hands and knees, turned around slowly so that Aaron wouldn't fall off her back. She put one hand up to steady him and then brought him to the ground before standing up. "Hi, Becca. I'm keeping Aaron occupied."

The beautiful woman from navigation gave Elizabeth an odd look. "By acting like a dog?"

"I'm not a dog, I'm a horsey. A horse," an embarrassed Elizabeth replied. She suddenly felt incredibly stupid.

"Were you choking?" Becca furrowed her brown and looked at Elizabeth with concern.

"I was neighing," she replied with a mumble.

"Oh. Okay. But it's past midnight. I'm no parent, but shouldn't he be asleep? And you too? You look exhausted."

"He's not tired," Elizabeth said with a sleepy nod to Aaron. "Long story. What are you doing up at this hour?"

"Just had a late date," Becca replied with a knowing smile, which caused small dimples to form in her perfect cheeks. She casually ran a hand through her hair, moving some off to the side, where it unintentionally formed a sexy wave. "He was divine. He managed to steal some champagne from the purser's office -don't tell Jack. I don't want my best date on this ship getting arrested- and I stole some food from the cafeteria – don't tell Abigail, and we had a nice night of-"

"Stolen food", Elizabeth interjected as she bent down and picked up Aaron who was trying to climb up her legs like they were tree trunks.

Becca smiled. "You'll never guess what we did."

"Planned a jewel heist? Since you're now pros at stealing stuff," Elizabeth replied sarcastically.

The navigator laughed and smiled at Aaron who giggled back.

"I won't say around the little one's delicate ears. But, oh. It was nice. My tee-shirt was all wet from helping with the pipe clean-up earlier, and, well you get the picture," Becca giggled.

Elizabeth couldn't help but think of her nickname for the woman. Perky Breast Becca.

"You were in a clingy wet tee-shirt with a divine date and champagne. Yep. I get the picture."

"Speaking of tee-shirts" Becca said hesitantly with a nod towards Elizabeth's chest. "Um, did you know that yours is wet?"

"It's breast milk and spit-up stain," Elizabeth stammered as she looked down at her clothing. If Becca was sexy and perky, Elizabeth was more along the lines of sexless and droopy.

"But look at you two having fun down here," Becca, clearly feeling embarrassed for Elizabeth, changed the subject. "Aaron is adorable. I have a nephew about his age. He's going to change so much while I'm gone. Just looking at this one makes me miss my sister's boy."

Elizabeth paused for just a split second before blurting out a suggestion. "How'd you like to spend time with Aaron? He's so fun. And you can pretend he's your nephew."

Becca smiled. "That's fine. I don't want to steal your son from you." She ran a hand along the boy's soft hair. "So adorable."

"Really!" Elizabeth said a bit too enthusiastically. "You can borrow him for an hour or so."

"Why?" Becca asked in confusion.

"Because he's so entertaining! And it will make you feel closer to your own nephew. And it's good practice. So that when you get back to Earth, you won't be out of practice with babies. It's really really important not to go too long without holding a baby or they'll be able sense that you're not comfortable with it," Elizabeth stressed. "Honestly, you've probably gone too long already."

"What would I do with him?" Becca's eyebrows scrunched together.

"Take him for a walk. Tell him about your new boyfriend. Teach him how to steal food and drink. No better not do that," she quickly retracted the last suggestion. "Jack wouldn't approve. Tell him about your job. Teach him navigation."

Becca scoffed. "Teach him navigation?"

"He's a good listener. You just have to be careful with him that he doesn't hurt himself," Elizabeth hurriedly explained as she tried to hand her son to the other woman. "You can keep him as long as you want. Hours. I'll pick him up or have Jack get him later. Seriously, you can have him for hours."

"It's okay, Elizabeth. If I need some baby time, I'll find you some time. It's late and I'm off to bed."

Becca gave Elizabeth a knowing smile before continuing. "Now, if it were the other male Thornton – your handsome husband -who you wanted me to spend a late night with, my answer might be different," she teased as she walked away. "I could teach Jack a thing or two. And have fun at it."

"Just pry it open," a disgruntled Elizabeth offered when Becca got to her door and saw the taped-over sensor.

Elizabeth waited until Becca had disappeared into her cabin before quietly reprimanding Aaron. "Next time, look cuter."


	83. Chapter 83 - The Hours Continue

**CHAPTER 83 – THE HOURS CONTINUE**

 **1\. Play Peek-A-Boo**. T _hat's a no-go. We've already outgrown it._

 **2\. Sing a Song like Itsy-Bitsy-Spider**. _I hate spiders. And I'm too exhausted to do the damn spider thing with my hands._

Elizabeth dismissed the first two suggestions in the Parenting article she had found on the computer database and continued reading. She didn't know why she should take advice from a self-proclaimed 'super mom' whom she had never met, but at this point, she was running out of her own ideas. The article's title "Easy Ways to Keep a Baby Busy and Happy" seemed too good to be true; nevertheless, she continued reading.

She was trying to stay awake but the dimly lit hallway and quietness weren't helping. She smacked herself awake as the words on the screen began to blur together.

 _Awake. Stay awake, girl._

She glanced over at Aaron, who was happily entertaining himself. He had one hand at his face as he happily sucked his thumb. His other hand was running along the carpet, apparently feeling for variations in the fabric. She wasn't sure how long such an incredibly boring activity would keep him occupied.

 **3\. Finger painting**. _Yeah, right,_ she thought sarcastically. _Because every transporter is outfitted with finger paints. Probably stocked right between energy carriers and geo-thermal packs._

 **4\. Join a Mommy and Me playgroup.** _Where?!_ _I'm the only mommy with a baby for eight-hundred thousand miles! The ONLY one! For eight-hundred thousand miles! Actually, at this speed, it's now eight-hundred thousand one-hundred miles. Now it's eight-hundred thousand two- hundred miles. Now, it's eight-hundred thousand three-hundred miles._

 **5\. Take your baby** **outside. Fresh Air is healthy for any baby.** _We're on a transporter. Outside would kill us,_ Elizabeth growled in disgust. _I want to keep us occupied, not frozen and deprived of oxygen._

* * *

"Elizabeth, wake up."

"Wake up. Time to get you to bed," the soft male voice spoke again.

"What time is it?" Elizabeth groggily asked when she opened her eyes and saw Jack kneeling down over her. She looked around and realized she was still in Corridor A.

"Three-thirty in the morning."

"I'm so tired," she mumbled.

"I know. It's okay. I'll watch him now. Let's get you back to our room."

"How'd you find us?" Elizabeth used a hand to push off the floor and struggled to her feet.

"I'm in law enforcement," he quietly reminded her so as to not wake up people in the nearby rooms. "I have access to every camera on this ship."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

"I taped the door sensors from this side, so he couldn't open any," a drowsy Elizabeth informed Jack. She unceremoniously pushed her hair from her face and wiped her mouth to make sure she hadn't been drooling.

"I noticed."

Elizabeth wearily followed Jack as he headed toward the elevator picking up items along the way.

"I tried to pimp him out," Elizabeth admitted guiltily without any prompting.

"You must not be very good at it because he's still here," Jack teased.

"He was the wrong Thornton male."

"Well, please don't pimp me out either. I'm kind of partial to just you."

Feeling the need to tell Jack every bad parenting thing she had done in the last few hours, Elizabeth continued, "I raised my voice at him and wasn't very nice."

"What did you say?"

"I told him that-" Elizabeth paused to yawn before continuing, "that he was an immature child."

"He is an immature child."

"That's what he said."

"He said?" Jack questioned. "He didn't say anything. He can't talk yet," a smiling Jack reminded her.

"I may have dreamed that part. My mind's a bit groggy."

"Let's get you some sleep and you'll be better."

"I think I also called him a demanding milk-sucking imp when he was breastfeeding."

"Not the nicest thing to say to your son but I'm guessing he had no idea what the words meant, so you get a pass on that one."

"I told him that he reminded me of the squirrels in our backyard."

"Squirrels can be cute."

"Not normal squirrels. The frantic ones that frightened me."

Jack chuckled. "I'm sure every mom has felt that way at some point. And he doesn't have a mark on him, so it looks like you did a great job watching him. I don't see a bone sticking out of place or a missing eye, and no blood dripping down him like a horror movie."

"I'm a horrible mom," Elizabeth sleepily lamented.

"You're a wonderful mom. You're just tired."

"I offered to let a bird man experiment on him with different bird sounds. That's how desperate I was to get someone to keep him occupied."

"What happened?"

"Your son spent twenty minutes pecking at me and trying to whistle."

Jack chuckled. "The whistling will come in handy when he sees a pretty woman. Or is umpiring a game," he added when Elizabeth chastised him with a weak slap. "And as for the pecking, well, let's hope it doesn't become habit. I don't want to have to explain to people why my son thinks he's a bird."

Elizabeth leaned against a wall and closed her eyes while Jack, holding the baby in one arm, bent down and used his other hand to pick up two socks which were laying a few feet of each other. He put them in the nearby diaper bag and then tossed in a ball which was up leaning against a wall.

"I haven't changed his diaper in four hours," she ruefully spoke up.

"That's okay."

"No, it's not," she admitted. "It should be changed every two to three hours."

"That's only if he's _actually_ wearing one."

Elizabeth's eyes popped open. "What are you talking about?" she questioned. She quickly looked at her son and saw the white flesh of Aaron's bare bottom which was resting on Jack's arms.

Jack laughed. "Maybe you're not such a wonderful mom after all, or you would have realized he wasn't wearing a diaper. I found one on the floor. Either he took it off or you forgot to put it on," Jack told her. "I'll put a fresh one on him as soon as we get back to our cabin. He's wide awake. Did he sleep at all?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Not unless he dozed off when I did. And that was only about fifteen minutes. Did you get our supply of stuff from the cargo hold?" Elizabeth asked with another yawn.

She was yawning so much it was like one long yawn punctuated every so often with words instead of the other way around.

"Yeah. . . about that. There was a slight problem."

"What? If you tell me that they were too lazy to pull out our stuff, I will march down there myself and get it."

"You are barely remembering how to walk. I doubt you could march anywhere."

"Right. Then, I'll make you march down there. Jack, we need those supplies. There's a bouncy thing, and toys, and " , Elizabeth yawned again as Jack tore the duct tape off the elevator door sensor, and the door slid open, "cloth books, and enough stuff to keep him occupied for the rest of this trip. We should have had it moved to our quarters weeks ago. There's no reason to wait until we get to Coal Valley. We might as well use it now."

Elizabeth leaned against the side wall of the elevator, relaxed, and closed her eyes. "Wake me up when we get to our floor."

 _Bing._

"We're here," Jack announced two seconds later when the door elevator announced they had arrived at their floor.

"That was quick," she mumbled.

"It's a small ship."

The family exited the elevator and walked quietly down the dimly-lit hallway. Despite downing three cups of coffee since the dinner meal, Jack would have loved a nap himself. The only Thornton family member that didn't seem eager to collapse onto a mattress was Aaron Daniel.

"Did you put his stuff in our room?" Elizabeth asked as she dragged her feet.

"His stuff?"

"From the crate. In cargo."

"Um. Like I said earlier, there was a slight problem," Jack reminded her as they walked into their quarters.

Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and headed straight to the bathroom. Years of good dental practice meant she automatically brushed her teeth before she went to bed, even if she had brushed hours earlier.

Jack set down Aaron on a lower berth and expertly fixed a diaper onto his bare bottom. Rummaging in the diaper bag, he found a pair of pants – soft enough to sleep in if the baby was inclined to ever sleep again – and put them on the boy. Next, he gave his son a squishy ball to occupy himself. Aaron immediately dropped the round object over the railing and watched it roll across the floor. He looked at Jack, babbled together a string of unintelligible syllables, and held out a tiny palm, indicating that he wanted it back.

"Even my teeth are tired," Elizabeth said after spitting toothpaste into the sink.

The water pressure in the faucet seemed lower than usual but she was too tired to complain. She wiped her mouth on a towel and headed towards her berth, tossing off her clothes and letting them fall to the floor as she walked.

"Wake me up when he's hungry."

She flopped onto a mattress without bothering to put on shorts or a tank top.

Jack bent down, retrieved Aaron's ball, and handed it back to his son. "Hold onto it this time," he whispered to the boy.

Acorn babbled, and tossed the ball over the railing. Apparently, he hadn't learned obedience in the last hours with Elizabeth.

"If he gets hungry, do you want me to feed him some smooshed apple so you can keep sleeping?" Jack offered as Elizabeth pulled a blanket over herself.

"If he'll take it," she mumbled. "And where's the stuff? I don't see it anywhere. I'll need it. That stuff is the only thing that's going to get me through this fiasco. What problem did you have getting it?"

"It wasn't in the right aisle," Jack said casually.

"Did they find out where it was?"

"They did."

"Why didn't they give it to you?"

"It wasn't easily accessible," was his only explanation.

"I can get it tomorrow." Her words were barely decipherable as she spoke mostly into her pillow.

"We'll see," Jack said evasively.

"Don't worry. I'll get it," a drowsy Elizabeth repeated. Her mind was already fading into sleep. "I need it."

Jack picked up Aaron and paused for a moment, half-hoping Elizabeth would be entirely asleep so she couldn't hear his next words. He knew he had to say them. He just didn't want to be in the same room as Elizabeth when the words made it to her ears.

"Remember that banana bread we had tonight?" he cowardly asked.

"Hmm mmm."

"Remember how everyone was laughing and talking about how great it was that there was a crate mix-up and we got bananas while Mock Earth probably got a crate full of useless boring supplies?

Elizabeth's brain took a moment to register what Jack was saying, but he knew that she had heard it when her eyes suddenly popped open with a start.

"Jaaack" she said warningly

"Well, the good thing is that now we know what Mock Earth got instead of bananas."

 **Dear Readers: Thanks to all of you who wrote that my story makes you smile or laugh**. 😊


	84. Chapter 84- Waterworks

**CHAPTER 84 – WATERWORKS**

Twenty-four hours later, a tired Elizabeth and Jack thought that the medication had worn off and that Aaron could feel pain again. They weren't positive, and to be honest, there wasn't a nice way of testing their theory.

Their quarters were strangely quiet.

"Should we pinch him? Seems kind of harsh," Jack said hesitantly from his position standing over the small boy's berth.

Elizabeth, who was standing next to him, shook her head as she looked down at her sleeping son. "No, don't pinch him. Let's just – oh, I don't know. I think that he's asleep is a good sign."

"I suppose you're right. Let's let him sleep. You know the old adage," Jack told her.

"Don't wake a sleeping baby?"

"I was thinking of 'let sleeping dogs lie', but yours is good too."

* * *

Aaron slept like a baby who hadn't gotten a good sleep in three days, and that was because he hadn't.

Elizabeth mentally went over the week so far. Monday night, Aaron's incoming tooth had caused him to fuss and fret all night. Tuesday afternoon, he had been given the wrong medication, with the side-effects of energy, an increased appetite, and the inability to feel pain. Tuesday night, he had kept Elizabeth on her toes as she tried everything which she could think of to keep him safely occupied – and keep herself awake to watch him. On Wednesday, Jack had watched him for several hours, and then Abigail had graciously taken over "Operation Baby Thornton" for a few hours. Then it had been Elizabeth's turn to take over the duty again, and then Jack's turn again, and then Elizabeth's again.

It was now early Thursday morning.

Aaron had finally powered down.

* * *

"Crawl in next to me", Jack whispered as he lay down on the lower berth opposite the baby's bunk. He lifted one side of the thin standard-issued blanket and held it up as an invitation to Elizabeth.

"What about work?"

"Forget work. I've missed you."

Elizabeth smiled, kicked off her shoes, and then pulled her grey tee-shirt so it came out of her waistband. Grasping the bottom hem, she lifted it up, exposing her torso, and then pulled it off entirely and tossed it onto the floor, followed by her bra. They landed on top of Jack's clothes.

"Are you tired?"

"Exhausted," she replied softly. "But I miss you more."

Elizabeth stepped out of her jeans, and glanced at Aaron. He was lying on his back and sleeping so soundly that he didn't even have his thumb in his mouth.

Deciding that the boy was no longer in need of constant supervision, Elizabeth crawled onto Jack's mattress being careful not to hit her head on the bottom of the upper berth. "What if we wake him?" she asked with a lowered voice.

"We won't", Jack whispered.

"If he wakes up anytime soon, I'm done for."

"I'll make a deal with you," Jack quietly replied as he leaned over her body. "I will be very very quiet while I touch you, and kiss you, and make you extremely happy."

Elizabeth tried to stifle a giggle at Jack's confidence in his abilities. She looked up at his face which was just inches from hers. He hadn't shaved in two days and had a faint stubble which she found incredibly sexy.

"And what do I have to do as part of this deal?" she questioned as she adjusted herself under his strong bare chest.

Leaning closer, Jack gently put his lips to one of her ears and whispered something so . . so . . . .well, let's just say that what he said made Elizabeth's heart race, her cheeks blush, and her excitement grow.

"Lights out," she eagerly declared as she reached up her hand and slapped the light sensor on the wall above their heads.

"Not too fatigued?" Jack teased.

Instead of verbally responding, Elizabeth pressed her mouth to his.

* * *

"Metal fatigue", Jack repeated to the Captain as they walked down the corridor outside their quarters. "That's the latest update I got. Just the one pipe as far as they can tell."

After several days recuperating from their own fatigue and catching up on 'things', Elizabeth, Jack, and Aaron had been on their way to the fitness center when they encountered the ship's Captain who requested an update on the water pipe burst earlier in the week.

Ever since the incident, the ship had been on a mandatory reduced-pressure for all pipes. Which meant that using water was still possible, just unbearably slow as the water trickled from the faucet at half its normal force.

After an investigation, the on-board engineers had surmised that G-forces endured by the transporter's repeated lift-offs over the last four years had finally caused the metal on one of the pipes to weaken, causing small cracks and the eventual burst.

"Damn materials," the Captain swore. "Everything was inspected before lift-off. It should have been found before we started this voyage. Send me the report and after I sign off on it, we'll forward it to headquarters."

"Yes, Sir."

Jack liked the Captain and they had a comfortable relationship, but he knew that the man responsible for the transporter would not relax until the voyage was finished and another on-ground inspection could be performed. For the next three months, there would be the possibility, however slight, that another pump might burst. And while there was the ability to weld and patch the metal together, it was an inconvenience that the Captain didn't want to deal with again.

"I still don't see how we could have just one pipe affected. Lucky if it's true. What about the debris? Someone mentioned some was found," the Captain noted.

"It looks like someone in the kitchen may have thrown some food into the sink drains rather than compost. I'll speak to staff member Stanton about it, and make sure its re-emphasized that only water does into the drains," Jack explained.

"I don't have time for lazy staff. Make sure Stanton knows that. I'll ensure that an announcement is made to passengers and crew also."

"Yes, Sir. When are you going to resume normal pressures?"

"Might as well do it now. No reason to wait. I'll send the order. Are the masses getting restless?"

"Not yet. But it's only a matter of time," Jack admitted. "People like their showers. And a trickle of water's not going to keep them satisfied for ever."

Elizabeth had to agree with Jack's statement. It was one of the things she missed most about living on Earth. The simple pleasure of a long shower. Back home in Liskow, their master bathroom had a large window looking out onto their backyard. Elizabeth loved seeing the snow on the fir trees or the maple trees without their fallen leaves as she stood under a forceful stream of warm water pulsating on her body.

* * *

"Who knew a body could be so squirmy?" Jack chuckled as he carried Aaron on his shoulders.

The little boy grabbed Jack's hair and bounced on his shoulders like he was riding a horse. After the fitness center, the Thornton family had stopped by the Captain's office to pick-up the completed inspection report, and they were now on their way to the CC to send it to headquarters on Earth.

"Maybe I'll have a message from home," Elizabeth remarked as they neared their destination. They passed other passengers who all nodded hello and smiled at the littlest Thornton who was thoroughly enjoying his view from six feet off the ground.

"Stop worrying, Elizabeth. I'm sure the house is fine. My ma would have said something in her message to us last week if there was a problem."

"Not if Julie and my family didn't tell her"

"No news is good news," Jack optimistically told her.

"Whoever came up with that saying never had Julie as a sister."

* * *

Aaron grabbed at the lights and moved his head in awe at the flashing colors and pictures that lined the walls of the CC while Jack handed his message to the ensign on duty and then waited patiently to be sure that it was successfully delivered.

While they waited, Elizabeth used the opportunity to complain to the ensign about the two misdelivered hologram messages which she had received. The young man in the crew uniform was less than helpful as he explained that sometimes messages are misdelivered if the sender accidently transposed part of the recipient's Earth Citizen number, and that there was nothing he could do about that.

"But maybe he's getting messages meant for me," Elizabeth pestered. "He's learning about my family and what they've been up to and what they want to tell me. That's an invasion of privacy," she added haughtily. "And a federal offense."

"Tell him, Jack," she urged as she jabbed her husband with her elbow.

Jack screwed up his face and gave her a look that clearly indicated he thought she had some odd ideas and he was not going to take her suggestion. "No," he said simply and then rubbed his arm and pouted.

"It's a crime," Elizabeth nagged. 'Tell him it's a crime and he needs to do something."

"It's not an invasion of privacy or a crime if Julie typed the wrong Earth Citizen number and someone innocently got her holograms meant for you," a smiling Jack informed her.

"But he's watching messages meant for me!"

"Not likely. Not unless your sister transposed the exact same numbers that he did. The odds of that would be astronomical. No pun intended," the ensign said as he humored himself. "More likely your sister just hasn't bothered to send you a message."

Elizabeth glared at the crew member. "So, you're not going to do anything?"

"Not really, Ma'am. But I will screen any messages addressed to you if you'd like me to."

"And you?" Elizabeth questioned as she looked at Jack.

Jack tried to stifle a smile. "Elizabeth, if I were to press charges against anyone who happens to accidently see a hologram meant for you – which may or may not have actually been sent – so this is entirely hypothetical, I would have to arrest you for watching a hologram that was meant for someone else. Twice now. Or did you not think about that?"

Elizabeth sulked. She didn't want to admit it but she hadn't thought of that.

"Besides, I'm the one that should be upset. Some man keeps sending my wife messages. I have every right to be jealous. Is there something you're not telling me about you and this mysterious man?" Jack teased Elizabeth.

"They're not for me!" she grumbled.

"And besides," she added casually with a shrug, "he wouldn't like me."

"How in the world do you know that?" Jack asked in surprise. His eyes squinted in curiosity.

"Because I don't have silky hair. Not after the lack of conditioner on this transporter. And it's not blond."

"It's kind of blond. Ish."

"He likes women with long silky blond hair. He's very particular about that. He said all men want women with nice hair."

"He told you this?"

"He didn't tell _me_. He told whomever he was talking to. Whomever was supposed to get the message. He said there was no one decent in Coal Valley and hoped some women who are sweet would be on the next transporter. And then he started babbling about men and women and skin color and silky hair. Or something like that. The message kept breaking in and out. It was a lousy transmission. Although, honestly, he sounded like a jerk to me."

"Maybe he's just desperate in need of companionship. Life on Coal Valley can be lonely if you don't have someone," Jack remarked.

"Then maybe he shouldn't be so choosy. He also said she had to have perfect ears."

"Perfect ears?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I told you that he was a jerk. Men."

"I love your ears," Jack said with a twinkle in his eyes. "They are just one of the many things I love about you. In fact, I love _both_ of them. And I love your hair. And I love that it's . . . . whatever color it is."

"Ahem," the ensign interrupted. "Your message has been successfully sent, Sir. Headquarters on Earth should be downloading it in the next hour."

* * *

The cafeteria with it round tables and long counter for getting food was a buzz of conversations, which was a welcome relief after some of the earlier meals this week.

After the water burst incident, some of the men on the ship had found themselves facing the wrath of their girlfriends, wives, and almost any female who had ever shown an interest in them.

"Looks like the women have finally forgiven their men," Jack said under his breath as the Thornton trio made their way to their table carrying plastic trays of food and drink boxes. Jack juggled his tray with one hand as he held onto Aaron with the other.

"What did they expect?" Elizabeth whispered back. "Did so many men have to volunteer to help clean up when they saw Becca in her wet tee-shirt? And did they have to say that a little water never hurt anything?"

Jack chuckled and gave a shrug. "I'm guessing the husband who made the comment about things growing with water, is still in the doghouse."

* * *

"Noooo!" Elizabeth said with exaggerated shock when one of the passengers at their table offered to get Aaron a cup of coffee.

The dishes – now empty of their food – had been pushed aside as the seats' occupants sat with full bellies and continued their conversations. As on the previous transporter flights, meal time wasn't just about food. The cafeteria was the social hub of the ship.

"I'll cool it off before I give it to him," the man said a little too innocently as the rest of the table burst into laughter. They were all familiar with the boy's energetic week. "He might like a nice cup of coffee."

"If that boy never has caffeine again, it will be too soon," Jack replied.

He looked over at Aaron who was sitting on the floor about thirty feet away. His little legs splayed out in front of him as he played with small empty silverware cardboard boxes which Abigail had saved from the recycling bin. He wasn't doing anything intelligent with them, not even stacking them, but Elizabeth had assured Jack that at less than eight months old, it was still too early for anything that advanced. Instead, the baby seemed perfectly happy to simply be smashing his hand onto them, and every so often, tasting them.

Having the only baby on the ship had proved to have its advantages. While Elizabeth wasn't exactly sure that she liked the idea of her son being the transporter's 'mascot" as if he was a sports team's official cheerleader, she did like that the ship was a safe area, he could roam practically anywhere, and no one complained. She just had to remind passengers not to feed him scraps of food.

One of the men across from Jack made a joke about coffee, jellybeans, and astronauts, causing everyone at the table to burst into another peal of laughter. Elizabeth, who had just taken a sip of tea, slapped her hand over her face to keep the liquid from coming out her nose and tried to stifle her laughter.

Perhaps if the dinner meal wasn't finished, people would still be eating and their mouths would be so full of food that they wouldn't be talking. Then the room of people would be quiet except for the clinking of utensils against plates and bowls.

But they were talking. And laughing loudly. And moving about the room as they went to the counter to get dessert and coffee or tea. Or calling across the room to friends.

And because of the noise which they were making, they didn't notice the creaking sound.

The small sound that comes as metal bends every so slightly with water moving through it. And the gurgling of something other than liquid passing swiftly through the pipes.

* * *

The pipe ruptured so quickly that no one had time to react.

The force violently pushed the closest chairs backwards, sending the occupants flying onto the floor. The rest of the people sitting around the table hurriedly shoved back their own chairs and jumped up to escape the torrent of water.

Before anyone could do more by way of reaction, there was another bang as the pipe burst in a second spot and then a third.

Water gushed out like any geysers, throwing the diners into a chaotic frenzy.

"Turn OFF the water valves!" somebody yelled but the words were barely heard above the sound of the alarm going off with its sharp beeps interspersed with a computer-generated message.

"CODE ORANGE. LOCATION CAFETERIA. WATER PIPE THREE HAS EXPERIENCED A MALFUNCTION. CODE ORANGE. LOCATION CAFETERIA. WATER PIPE THREE HAS EXPERIENCED A MALFUNCTION.

Elizabeth pushed dripping hair off of her face, and frantically looked around for Aaron. She tried to make her way away from the table, but she slipped in the water and had to steady herself. More water shot into her face temporarily blinding her.

She used a hand to shield her face, and stumbled away. She tried to ignore the yells of passengers and the beeping of the alarm as a fourth break in the pipe released a spray of water across the room.

"CODE ORANGE. LOCATION CAFETERIA. WATER PIPE THREE HAS EXPERIENCED A MALFUNCTION. CODE ORANGE. LOCATION CAFETERIA. WATER PIPE THREE HAS EXPERIENCED A MALFUNCTION.

She was frightened when she didn't see immediately see Aaron, but then someone racing by moved out of the way, and she saw her little boy.

He was still thirty feet away and watching sprinkles of water splash onto the floor near him. Luckily, he wasn't close enough to the main break which had opened over their table or he would have been soaked and likely injured. He was wet, but he hadn't been knocked over by the force of the water erupting from the pipe.

Elizabeth should have felt relief at seeing her boy babbling in a puddle. And to some extent, she did. But for a reason she didn't yet understand, she felt that something was wrong.

She just didn't know how seriously wrong it was.

It's strange how water is necessary to live, but can also kill.


	85. Chapter 85- The Water Snake

**To the reader that was woken up by a phone call because of my last post, I posted this one early for you**. 😊

 **CHAPTER 85 – THE WATER SNAKE**

The cafeteria looked more like an ocean ship than a space-ship. Water spewed from multiple places in the broken pipe bringing a halt to the otherwise pleasant evening meal.

"Jack, are you okay?" Elizabeth called upwards. Seeing that Aaron hadn't been injured when the water pipe exploded open, she had next turned her attention to her husband.

He was just a few feet away from her but he was standing on the nearest table. He was drenched in water as he shoved tee-shirts that people were hurriedly ripping off their bodies into the opening of the pipe.

"Someone get all the water lines turned off!" he screamed as people ran around hurriedly trying to find more cloth to stuff into the gaping hole, or running to turn off a main valve.

"CODE ORANGE. LOCATION CAFETERIA. WATER PIPE THREE HAS EXPERIENCED A MALFUNCTION. CODE ORANGE. LOCATION PIPE THREE HAS EXPERIENCED A MALFUNCTION.

"And turn off the damn alarm," his voice trailed off as someone found the switch to silence the sharp beeps interspersed with the computer-generated message which was needlessly telling them the obvious.

The room's activity was hectic. People were slipping on the wet floor. Yelling orders. Complaining about their ruined meals. Helping people to their feet. Shaking their heads at their drenched outfits. Looking with concerned eyes at the other pipes in the ceiling and wondering if they would burst. A soft sound, something like a humming or buzzing, could be heard very faintly when there was a lull in loud voices now that the alarm was no longer blaring, but water still forced its way down onto the Cafeteria floor and tables.

"I think I twisted my ankle when I slipped," someone whined.

"Get the pipes turned off!"

"Where are the other valves?!"

"I hurt my backside. The freaking water knocked me over," someone else grumbled.

The tee-shirts acted like a dam holding back the remaining water until Jack felt the force dissipating. Slowly he took his hands off the clothes which remained wedged in the metal. Water ran down onto the table top, making a dripping sound as it mingled with the buzzing sound off in the distance.

Across the room, other people were moving away from the pipes which they had also stuffed full of tee-shirts and an odd sweater or sweatshirt.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Something hit me in the eye, but I think I'm okay," a crew member answered. She held a hand to her face.

"Let me look," someone instructed the petite woman with a ponytail which was now askew.

"Let's start cleaning up," a man from the kitchen staff instructed.

"I'll get the mops."

As Elizabeth sat on the floor, looking at her wet clothes and shoes, she had the feeling that something wasn't right. She paused with her hands still gripping her soaking wet top and listened. Trying to figure out what was wrong – other than the most obvious.

It was the quick snapping movement seen from the corner of her eye that grabbed her attention.

Elizabeth jerked her head in the direction of the motion.

"No," she gasped.

"Jack!" she screamed frantically.

Jack, who had climbed down from the table and was talking to a crew member, turned to look at her.

Elizabeth was motionless.

She was staring across the room. Looking past puddles of water. Past the scattered food, dishes, and toppled chairs which littered the floor.

Jack followed her gaze.

"Dear God," he said with a frightened intake of breath.

* * *

The room grew quite as the other wet diners, hearing Elizabeth's scream and sensing something new was wrong, stopped what they were doing and looked in her direction.

Their eyes moved to look in the direction in which Jack and Elizabeth were staring.

Someone gasped, someone else swore under her breath, and everyone froze in apprehension.

No one moved.

At least no adult moved.

Aaron Daniel Thornton was sitting in a puddle of water. Happily splashing. Oblivious to the danger in which he sat.

* * *

"Aaron. Come to mommy." Elizabeth said with forced pleasantry. She quickly glanced at the source of the buzzing sound and then back to her son.

"No! Don't let him move!" Jack yelled.

"Jack!" Elizabeth protested.

"He's wet. There's water everywhere. Don't let him move," Jack repeated firmly.

"We have to get to him," a terrified Elizabeth said in a barely audible voice.

The humming electric cable which had been hit by the exploding water pipe, was now swinging wildly as it hung by one end from a broken ceiling panel.

It was four inches in diameter. Maybe three, but Elizabeth wasn't in the mood to measure. She may not be a scientist like most of the passengers, but she didn't need to be one to know that electricity and water don't mix well.

Her son was sitting in a puddle of water. Surrounded by more puddles of water as electricity pulsated through an uncontrolled cable.

It swung violently, smacking against a nearby wall, and then it dropped further as it continued to sway.

Every few seconds, the live wire came in contact with the ground. When it hit a wet spot, it emitted a crackling sound which ran the entire length of water and shot out sparks of light which caused the passengers and crew to jump back. Keeping everyone from getting close to Aaron.

The little boy stopped splashing and curiously looked at the object which was forcefully moving around him. Naively unaware of the danger, he giggled happily at the snake-like cable as it wildly whipped about.

To Aaron, it was like it a new toy of some kind. Moving erratically and making pretty lights.

To Elizabeth, it was like a large black serpent determined to lash out and kill someone. And the closest living thing to it was her precious son.


	86. Chapter 86 Revisting the Past

**CHAPTER 86 – REVISITING THE PAST**

Aaron watched the snake-like object move about. It was the most interesting thing he had seen in a long time. It was certainly more interesting than the rolled-up socks and other objects his mother had thrown for him to play with earlier in the week.

He liked the way the cable arched itself, flinging its thick coil body in the air. He reached an arm upward but the object of his interest was too far away as it moved about him.

"Jack, I have to go get him," Elizabeth said urgently.

She made a move forward, but Jack grabbed her arm and held her back.

"It's too dangerous. It's sending out volts like crazy. You'll get hit." His tense fingers dug into Elizabeth's arm as he kept her from moving forward. His heart was pounding but he tried to keep his voice calm as he finally released her.

Jack knew that Aaron was small enough that if he crawled and if he was extremely lucky, he might avoid getting hit by the thick cable itself, but there was no guarantee he wouldn't get shocked by the electricity erratically spewing out of it. In fact, it was highly likely that he would get hit.

"One zap and it will kill the kid," one of the scientists remarked seriously. He didn't intend for Elizabeth and Jack to hear, but other than the noise from the electric cable, his voice was the only sound.

"Shut up," Jack ordered. His words were directed at the scientist, but his eyes never left the cable. He followed it as it arced madly, spitting out its voltage.

"You could do some kind of maneuvers. You know run in there, scoop him up, drop to the ground, and roll out of there," a young crew member who had played rugby in college volunteered as he tried to be helpful. "And try not to get shocked," he added weakly.

"Someone turn off the electricity!" Jack yelled to the crowd and then turned his voice back to his son.

"Aaron. Stay where you are. Just sit there, son."

Aaron ignored his father's voice, and put his hands on the floor in front of him. He lifted up his diapered bottom in the adorable way he liked to crawl.

Keeping his knees off the ground and using his hands and feet in an upside "v" shape, he moved a few inches forward to explore the mess which littered the floor and the cable which was so interesting.

"Aaron!" Elizabeth cried out shrilly, and then forced herself to speak calmly. "I need you to be still. Mommy needs you not to move. Don't move, baby", Elizabeth directed her son.

The boy stopped, whether because of her voice or because he was intrigued by a puddle, didn't matter to Elizabeth and Jack. They watched as their little boy played with the water under one of his palms. He giggled at the little drops that flew up in the air when his hand smacked against the liquid.

"Why is the electricity still turned on?!" Jack screamed over his shoulder.

"We're getting it," a lieutenant from main control hurriedly answered as he ran up to Jack and Elizabeth after having been notified of the problem. He stopped short when he saw the cable swing overhead. Although he was more than a foot away from the cable's possible reach, he instinctively ducked.

"We need to turn off the electricity, but it's the same system for some of the navigation, so we have to divide out the power supplies," he explained. He pushed his curly white hair from his face, and looked in awe at the scene.

The cable arced suddenly in the direction of a small crowd of diners standing to the side. They leapt backwards in fear.

"Damn!" someone exclaimed. "That was close."

"Move back everyone!" a commanding voice instructed.

Parents, deciding the situation was too intense, put their arms on their children and herded them out of the room.

Elizabeth desperately wanted to put her arms around her own child, but it was too dangerous for either of them to move.

"No!" Elizabeth yelled when she saw her son moving forward. He had become bored with the small puddle of water. "No, Acorn! Bad! Don't come here."

She had never yelled at him before. Never reprimanded him in such a way. Never felt her heart breaking like it did now to speak him so cruelly.

Aaron, startled by Elizabeth's harsh command, stopped moving.

He didn't usually understand the many words his mother used – especially when she read aloud from some of the thick books she always seemed to have- but he knew her voice. He knew the soft lilt when she sang to him and rocked him in her arms. He knew the way her voice changed inflection from suspenseful to happy when she told him a story. He knew the excitement in her voice when she showed him something new. He knew the quiet soothing sound of her voice in the dim evening light when he was tired. Those were the sounds he associated with her voice.

This wasn't her voice at all. At least not the one he was used to hearing. His little face crinkled in confusion.

It made him unhappy and he moved towards her for comfort, but one of his little hands slipped and he fell forward. Uninjured, he lay on the ground and decided his next move.

* * *

Jack, who had been quickly surveying the scene, noticed that there was one spot which might protect Aaron until the electricity could be turned off.

"He needs to back up and get under the table," he said aloud as his eyes were drawn to the table a few feet behind his son. "It's dry there and should be safe from the sparks. It's no guarantee but he should be protected from the cable."

"Unless the cable comes from an angle," one of the engineers watching the scene remarked pensively.

"Shut up," Jack said tersely.

"Aaron, back up. Go under the table," Elizabeth told her son in a forced sweet voice. She moved her hands in a shooing motion, encouraging him to move backwards to the safer area. "Go. Back up."

Aaron had no idea what she was saying. The words were meaningless at his age, but he missed her. And so, he did what any baby would do, he began moving towards his mother.

"NO!" she yelled when he came towards her. "Please Aaron, don't come to mommy," she pleaded.

"Hide," Jack commanded her.

"What?"

Elizabeth looked at Jack in confusion.

"Hide so he can't see you."

"But he wants me," Elizabeth's voice trailed off when she realized Jack was right. She couldn't let Aaron try to crawl to her. Not with the cable flying through the air and ejecting electricity. When she had yelled at him, the small boy had become confused and had wanted to go to her for reassurance. When she had spoken kindly to him, he had wanted to go to her for affection. When he had become bored, he had wanted to go to her for comfort.

He wanted his mommy.

When Elizabeth didn't move but stood staring at her son, Jack spoke again.

"I can either risk running in and grabbing him, and most likely get a thousands volts of electricity, or he needs to get under the table. You cannot go to him. It's too dangerous."

Elizabeth nodded and moved behind Jack. She was near tears as she hid from her son when he needed her the most.

Aaron, who had already begun crawling towards Elizabeth, glanced up from the floor in her direction but now she was no longer visible to him.

He looked around and hesitated.

The cable swung uncontrollably in front of the boy sending out sparks which landed just a foot from Aaron's face, causing the helpless audience to collectively gasp in horror.

"NO!" Jack yelled forcefully when Aaron finally put his hand forward and then followed it was a leg, mere inches from a puddle.

"Someone TURN OFF THE DAMN ELECTRICITY!" Jack shouted out angrily over his shoulder.

* * *

"Aaron, move backwards. Go under the table. The table, son," Jack motioned to the area behind Aaron. "The table. It's behind you. Go. Shoo."

The white-haired lieutenant studied a message on his hand-held computer. "We can't turn it off yet. We're dividing up the electrical units, but we've got the back-up too. It doesn't allow us to turn it off. We have to get the captain to do the override with the generator. It will take a few more minutes."

"How many?"

The man was about to speak when the cable, moved by the force of the electricity pulsating through it, smacked into a wall, and sent a cascade of sparks flying onto the wet floor.

The sizzling sound caused several people to jump in their shoes and cringe.

Aaron sat on his bottom and lifted his arms to be picked up.

"Ten. Twelve maybe," the lieutenant answered Jack's question.

"My son is in a puddle of water with an electric cable arcing wildly around him! We don't have twelve minutes!"

The man shrugged helplessly. "We're doing the best we can. He needs to get under the table away from the cable and sparks."

The small boy tried to understand what had happened but it was too much. He no longer liked being wet. It wasn't fun like when his father took him in the large pool or his mother gave him a bath. He didn't want to splash in the water anymore.

He was getting cold. And everyone was staring at him. He didn't like it.

But what made him the saddest was that neither one of his parents was coming to hold him. He kept his arms raised in a sorrowful plea to be held.

But his father just stared sadly at him and his mother never appeared.

The tiniest Thornton's lips quivered, and quiet tears began to roll down his cheeks.

* * *

"Nine minutes," the lieutenant, whom Elizabeth now knew was named Lieutenant Tempus, informed Jack.

"I'm going to try to run and get him, " Jack declared suddenly, but he was stopped by a surge of volts in his direction and the swinging cable.

"Aaron, please don't cry. It's going to be okay," Jack said in an attempt at a soothing voice. He knelt down onto one knee, getting it wet but not caring, so that he was closer to Aaron's eye level.

"We'll cap the wire as soon as the power goes off," a woman reported as she and two other crew members came forward with headlamps and an assortment of tools.

"Eight minutes until the override."

Elizabeth, peeked around Abigail, and watched helplessly. Her friend gave her arm a squeeze. "It's going to be okay," the older woman said in an attempt to be reassuring, but then she cringed and instinctively pulled back her face as sparks flew out and sizzled against a wet table.

Elizabeth closed her eyes against the chaos. "He's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay," she repeated quietly to herself. "We just have to hold on for another eight minutes."

She wrung her hands together and practically squeezed the skin off of them as the cable came dangerously close to smacking into her son's tiny head.

And then it came to her. A possible solution.

* * *

Elizabeth gasped with realization. She grabbed her laptop from under the table and brushed the water from the lid. Quickly, she opened it and began typing.

"Hurry. Hurry," she ordered the machine as she clinked on the keys and the computer began thinking. Its loading icon spinning incessantly as it went through a start-up program.

"What's your password", she yelled to the doctor who was standing close by in case he was needed. A set of defibrillators was in his hands.

"My password?" the man asked in confusion.

"Your password! What's your damn password?!" Elizabeth demanded. "To your computer."

The doctor hesitated for a split second, but the determination in her eyes caused him to not question her any more. He quickly dictated his password letters and numbers.

"Our files are here. It should be in here. It has to be here. Please be here," she muttered as she ran her finger along the screen.

Jack had no idea what Elizabeth was doing and he wondered briefly if she had lost her sanity. He didn't have time to ask. He was too focused on his son and getting the electricity turned off.

"Please, Aaron, move under the –"

The thick wire swung near Jack, and he ducked his head. "Aaron, move back," he said sternly when he recovered. But it was no use. At seven months old, Jack might as well have told the boy to do algebra, or recite the periodic table of elements. The small boy simply had no idea what Jack was trying to convey.

"It will be another seven minutes," Lieutenant Tempus announced as he listened to a voice on his messenger and relayed the information to Jack. "I'm sorry. They're going through the sequence now."

"Seven minutes," Jack groaned in frustration. It would seem like seven hours.

The air crackled as every living creature watched.

The sharp crack of electricity hitting water took Elizabeth by surprise and she involuntarily flinched. Her heart beat faster and she felt her nerves shaking as she tried to concentrate. She mistyped spelling her own last name and had to correct it.

"A. Thornton. Here it is." She clicked on her son's name, and hurriedly moved through the pages of the file on her screen. "Physical. . . .. Anti-pressure suit. . . . Psych test."

"Tell them to go faster!" Jack ordered. He didn't think there was any way he could keep the boy from moving forward for much longer, and it possibly wouldn't matter because the cable was moving so wildly that at any moment it would likely change directions and hit the boy. He had been lucky that he hadn't yet been electrocuted.

"Here it is!" Elizabeth exclaimed to herself again as she found what she was looking for.

She quickly glanced at the table behind Aaron and calculated the distance and direction, then ducked back behind some crew members so Aaron wouldn't see her.

He had caught sight of her just briefly, and the startled boy stopped crying. But only for a second. He hicupped, but when Elizabeth disappeared again, he renewed his tears.

* * *

"Thirty feet distance, two feet from the ground, fifty feet from the left wall, seventy feet from the right wall. It's – It's _," Elizabeth mumbled, but she was so nervous, she couldn't do the simple math and her fingers hovered over the keyboard. "Think, stupid. Just do the math!" She chided herself.

Sparks sizzled down to the ground like a firecracker. Someone screamed, and people moved back further and shielded their heads from the spray.

"Damn, that was close. It almost hit the boy," someone exclaimed.

Elizabeth punched in the numbers she needed, elbowed two people out of her way, and moved to the edge of the circle of worried observers. She used one of her hands to keep a young man standing in front of her when he tried to move. "Stand there. I don't want him to see me."

Elizabeth pushed the enter button and waited.

Almost instantaneously, a hologram of smiling Elizabeth appeared under the table across the room. Placed exactly at the coordinates which Elizabeth had entered.

"Come here," Elizabeth's pleasant and calm voice echoed from the gossamer image. "Come here, sweetie."

Aaron's head whipped around. He could see his mother over his shoulder. She was standing under the table behind him.

"The hologram," Jack gasped. "From the psych eval."

"Come to mommy, Acorn," the gossamer Elizabeth encouraged her son.

"What is she doing?" someone whispered.

"She's trying to get him to go under the table," someone else said in realization. "So that he's safe until the electricity is turned off. She's tricking him to going under the table."

"Do you think it will work?" Abigail asked uncertainly.

"It will work," Jack answered.

"He trusts her," Jack said quietly to himself. "He trusts her."

* * *

Dear Readers: Thank you to the reviewers! you gave me some ideas for this chapter!


	87. Chapter 87 - Staying Put

**Dear readers: I got part of the idea for th** **is chapter from a reviewer's comment. Thanks! Keep them coming.** 😊

 **CHAPTER 87 – STAYING PUT**

Aaron turned his body around and quickly crawled towards the cafeteria table under which Elizabeth's hologram was now visible.

He ignored the swinging black cable which missed his head by only ten inches, and ignored the gasps from the crowd of on-lookers.

Although the few parents on the transporter had taken their own children from the room, the vast majority of diners had remained, and been joined by other passengers and crew members. It was like a tragedy that they couldn't turn away from. They watched with bated breath, praying that the small diapered boy wearing a onesie decorated with bears wasn't shocked to death.

Aaron didn't care about water or electricity, he just wanted to climb into his mother's arms. In his mind, she had finally come to get him.

One of his tiny palms slipped on the slick wet floor, causing him to fall down onto his belly. He lifted his head and looked towards his mother's image.

"Come here, Aaron. Come to mommy," she said in a pleasant encouraging voice as she held out her hands to him.

The small but determined boy pushed his pudgy belly off the floor and began crawling again. He reverted to his standard "bear crawl" of keeping his arms and legs straight as he propelled himself forward.

As Elizabeth watched from across the room, she realized it was an appropriate type of crawl given his outfit and that she had lately felt like a mama bear protecting a young cub.

Aaron was a foot from the table when Elizabeth's image disappeared into thin air.

"What happened?!" Jack shouted as he jerked his head around and looked at Elizabeth.

The crowd started murmuring in worry.

"Don't worry," Elizabeth answered hurriedly. "It's over. It was a short hologram," she explained as she clicked on her keyboard. "I have to start it again and loop it so it keeps going. I should have thought of that earlier."

She pushed the enter key.

"Come here," her pleasant and calm voice once again echoed from the gossamer image under the table. "Come here, sweetie."

Aaron crawled under the safety of the tabletop just before a sharp crack of electricity struck the area behind him, causing one observer to shriek and several others to swear in awe.

"Three seconds earlier, and that boy would have been toast," a man holding a mop exclaimed aloud.

"He's not out of the woods yet," a woman replied knowingly as she watched the cable's end hit the floor and slide about.

The wet floor around the table sizzled and sparkled with bursts of light.

"How many volts can a body that small take and still survive?" a passenger whispered to her husband.

"It's not the voltage," the man whispered back. "It's the current. The amperes. With his size, I'd say anything over ten milli-amps would be lethal. And there's definitely more than ten milli-amps coming out of that cable."

"Are you sure it would kill him?" the hushed voice asked.

"Well," the man answered, forgetting to lower his voice, "the defibrillators and CPR-breathing might bring him back. But he'd be really badly burned."

"Shut up!" ordered Jack.

* * *

"Thirty seconds, Jack."

"What?" Jack said as he turned to face Lieutenant Tempus.

Jack had been so busy concentrating on his son staying under the table and the loop of Elizabeth's hologram which had played more than a dozen times, that he hadn't realized that more than six minutes had passed.

Elizabeth was standing next to him, wringing her hands, and quietly muttering for Aaron to stay under the table. She was also irrationally demanding that the cable not send sparks of electricity in his direction as it swung around the room, hitting walls and the floor.

Aaron was wet, tired, discouraged, and crying quietly. Frustrated that Elizabeth hadn't picked him up, he had tried to grab hold of her body – which was smaller than normal- but his hand merely went through the image. Confused but not wanting to leave her, he had remained under the table, lured to stay there by his mother's picture and voice.

"Thirty seconds 'til power goes out," the lieutenant repeated. "Now, twenty-eight. You should get ready to get him. Best turn on your light."

* * *

When the electricity went off, the large room was plunged into darkness which was broken up by thin beams of light coming from headlights and flashlights.

Strobes moved towards the impotent cable which now hung limply. The man-made serpent was dead. Or at least asleep.

Jack sprinted past the crew members that were moving to cap the cable, and headed directly towards his son. When his light shone under the round table, his son's startled face was illuminated. The boy quickly closed his eyes, and turned his head away from the bright light.

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm sorry about all this," Jack said tenderly as he bent down and scooped his son into his arms. The little boy clung to him. "I'm so sorry. But daddy has you now. Everything's okay."

Careful not to hit his head on table, Jack shuffled backwards and stood up. "Let's go to mommy."

The words were barely out of his mouth, when Elizabeth, stumbling in the dark and slipping on the wet floor, reached the duo. She put her hands on her son, and Jack transferred the small boy into her arms.

Aaron had stopped crying, but Elizabeth's tears ran quietly down her cheeks.

* * *

Jack kept his arm around Elizabeth as the trio made their way through the cafeteria. Every so often, someone would pass along some information to Jack and let him know that a report would be filed, or tell Elizabeth that she was a smart thinker, or tell them how lucky their little boy had been.

The hallway was eerie. Lit only by Jack's flashlight and tiny dots of emergency battery-operated lights which lined the floor it seemed unusually quiet and still.

They passed the elevator which was not an option with no power to move it, and headed to the stairwell.

"Careful, watch your step. Want me to carry him?" Jack asked in the darkness.

"No, I've got him," Elizabeth said confidently as she used one hand to hold onto the banister and the other to keep her son protectively snuggled to her chest. "Just keep the flashlight on the steps so I can see them."

They were halfway up a flight of steps when the lights suddenly came on. Illuminating the sterile stairwell.

"They must have gotten the cable capped off and found no other problems," Jack announced as the family stopped briefly and then began walking again.

They looked like a refugee family having swum to shore after a shipwreck. Wet, bedraggled, emotionally exhausted, and traumatized, they arrived on their level.

Jack stopped walking and held open the door. "Do me a favor? Take him back to our room and get him settled down. I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Where are you going?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"Don't worry. I just have to take care of something."

"Jack!" she exclaimed as he started back down the steps.

"Ten minutes," he repeated as he hurried away.

* * *

"There you go sweetie. All that crying made you tired," Elizabeth said quietly as she covered her son's legs and stomach with his favorite blanket.

He lay on his back, his tired eyes fighting to stay open, and then surrendering to exhaustion from his ordeal.

Elizabeth stood beside his berth watching as his thumb fell from his mouth, a sure sign that he was comfortably asleep.

She would have liked to have held him longer, to keep his tiny innocent body against hers, to keep him safe, to somehow alleviate her guilt that he had faced the danger alone. But her clothes were still wet, and he needed warmth and a place to relax, not a chilly wet mother. She had changed his diaper and his clothes, kissed him a thousand times, and allowed him the comfort of a soft mattress.

Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and then looked towards the cabin door as it slid open.

"Shh," she said and motioned with her finger to her lips. "He's asleep."

Jack strained his neck to look at his son. "He's out like a light. He'll sleep through anything."

"What is all that stuff?" Elizabeth looked at that bags in Jack's hands as he set them down on her desk.

"Food. Drinks. The diapers from the laundry. His teething toy. Abigail found it in the cafeteria. A deck of cards. More food and drinks," Jack answered as he began taking items out of the three bags he had carried into the room.

"What for?" Elizabeth's face scrunched in confusion.

Jack moved two feet across the room and gave her a quick kiss. "We are not leaving this room again. It's too dangerous. I'm tired of automatic doors letting him escape, and gravity going out, and irresponsible medics, and exploding water pipes, and electric cables trying to kill our boy."

Elizabeth gave him an incredulous look. "So what? We're going to stay in here for the next three months?"

"Why not?" Jack countered. "We've got everything we need. Beds, a bathroom, food and drink. I can always get Abigail to deliver more. We can wash diapers in the sink or send them out to laundry. You can breast feed Aaron."

"What about your job?" a smiling Elizabeth crossed her arms against her chest and challenged him.

"I'll quit."

"You can't quit," she scoffed. "We're on a transporter in outer space. You have to wait until we get somewhere. And then we'd just have to get on another transporter for a four-month trip home."

"Then I'll call in sick," he replied with a shrug as he continued to take items out of the bags and pile them on the small desk. "I've got sick-leave built up."

"You're not sick."

"I'm sick of this transporter. That counts."

"What about my job?" she asked with a laugh.

"It's just voluntary until we get to Coal Valley. And besides, learning is over-rated. The kids can just play more now."

"Do you realize how small this room is?" she asked as she decided to overlook Jack's simple description of her beloved profession.

Jack set an apple onto the desk, which he had now already covered with juice boxes, water bottles, crackers, and packaged meals, and looked around at his sterile surroundings. "It's cozy. I like cozy."

Elizabeth chuckled. "And you don't think we'll get bored? In this tiny cozy room."

Jack gave her a mischievous smile. "At last count, we still had protection. I'm thinking we can keep ourselves busy."

Elizabeth laughed again. "We don't have enough for three months if we stay in here together and uninterrupted."

"I don't care. I want to forget about everything outside these walls."

"For three months?"

"Okay. Maybe not three months, but I'm not ready to go out there again. This ship is dangerous," he said in surprise. "It's like a war zone out there."

Elizabeth put a finger to her lips and her thumb under her chin as she pretended to pensively consider the situation.

"Did you bring me a chocolate croissant in one of those bags?"

"Of course. I know my wife," he answered with a grin.

"Well then. I guess we're staying in here," she agreed with a smile.

"How much protection did you say we still have?" she asked as she began to take off her wet clothes.

 **Up Next: Chapter 88**


	88. Chapter 88 - Back to Civilization

**CHAPTER 88- BACK TO CIVILIZATION**

Baby Thornton, as he was affectionately named by the ship's passengers, crawled across the floor which was littered with a variety of items. When one of his knees landed on a carton juice box, it smooshed the container flat and a stream of apple juice shot out of the short straw.

"You going to get that?" Jack asked lazily from his position on the top bunk. Naked from the waist up, he was leaning on one arm as he peered down on his son.

Elizabeth, lying on a bottom bunk, stretched her upper body sideways and looked down at the floor. "Nah. I'll get it later," she answered before languidly looking back at her computer.

The trio had been in their cabin for three days. Ever since the electrical cable and water ordeal in the cafeteria.

They had eaten eight meals each, gone through twenty juice boxes and bottles of water, washed all the diapers in the bathroom at least twice, taken two separate showers and three as a family, watched six movies on their computers, and made love seven times.

Jack went back to reading a book, one of Elizabeth's favorites, which she had managed to fit into the weight allowance by sacrificing some cosmetics. The paper pages felt old-fashioned between his fingertips but he liked the feeling. He finished reading the chapter and then looked down at his son again.

Aaron, dressed in an adorable onesie with the letters NASA on the front, threw a rattle across the room where it landed with a jingling sound. With a satisfied smile, he crawled after it, and then repeated the process.

"He's got a good arm," Jack observed when he heard the jingling. "Might be a ball player. Throwing Thornton."

Elizabeth looked up from her computer screen and watched her son throw the rattle again. "Maybe."

She returned her attention to her hologram messages, which she had finally receive yesterday. The ones from her parents were filled with messages of 'missing you', her father's discussion of work, and her mother's tour of their newly redecorated living room. A boastful Viola had also sent a short message but it consisted mostly of Elizabeth's nephew riding a tricycle for the first time, and her niece speaking barely understandable French to their nanny.

It was Julie's hologram message which irritated Elizabeth the most. She had watched it four times. It was only two minutes long and contained nothing of any interest. At first, Elizabeth had simply watched the hologram and not given it another thought. Later, out of boredom, she had re-watched it. She realized that the fact that it was uninteresting was what bothered her the most. Julie could make a flat tire sound exciting. The fact that she had seemed happy, somewhat pre-occupied with meeting the neighbors, and hadn't spilled a single ounce of gossip, worried Elizabeth.

"She's done something to our house. Or our neighborhood," Elizabeth told Jack. "She's hiding something. Maybe she's been evicted by the neighborhood watch group."

"Your mom said the neighbors like her. She's been going to their homes for parties and had them to our house."

"That's another thing," Elizabeth replied suspiciously. "We lived there a year and didn't get as many invitations as she's getting."

"Now you just sound jealous. If she had done something wrong, someone would have notified us."

"I guess you're right," Elizabeth reluctantly admitted.

She closed her laptop and looked around the cabin. One of her pillows was on the floor. She vaguely remembered Aaron had taken a nap on it earlier today. Or was it yesterday? The days had started to run together.

A towel – still damp from Aaron's most recent playtime in the shower, was draped over the room's sole chair, which also contained a pair of Elizabeth's undies.

"Where's Aaron?"

Jack glanced up from his book and looked over the side of his bunk. His son was nowhere in sight. "Must be under a bunk."

Getting off her mattress and down onto her hands and knees, Elizabeth looked under one bunk and then the other.

"There he is. He's eating a piece of cardboard. Do you think that's dangerous?"

"Not unless he swallows it." Jack responded in the same way that a sloth moves. Slow and without concern.

"Yeah, I guess," she agreed with a bored exhale of breath. "But one of us should probably crawl under and get him."

"Just call him out."

"Like a dog?"

"Why not? He knows his name."

Elizabeth moved a blanket out of the way.

"C'mon, Aaron. Come to mommy. Stop eating that possibly dangerous piece of cardboard which can't possibly taste good."

When the little boy chose to ignore her advice, Elizabeth lay on her stomach and reached out her arms towards him. "Why is the floor sticky here?"

"I think that's where we spilled the soup."

"I thought you cleaned it up."

"I cleaned up when Aaron peed when you were changing his diaper. You were supposed to clean up the soup."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

Elizabeth gently pulled her son out from the bunk and ran her hand through his messy hair.

The small boy had been thoroughly enjoying having his parents to himself for the last three days. As an added benefit, they had gotten lulled into a sense of tranquility so that they were to the point where they were pretty much letting him do whatever he wanted.

"Why is there a corn kernel here? We didn't even eat corn," Elizabeth asked as she pulled the small yellow kernel off of Aaron.

"It was in my tee-shirt. Sorry. I thought I threw it out. I found a couple of them."

"How'd it get in your tee-shirt? When did you have corn?"

"I didn't. It got in there during that whole fiasco in the cafeteria. I used my tee-shirt to stop the pipe geyser and then it was on the floor among all the spilled dishes and food and mess."

"We've been living like animals for the past three days. This place is a pig sty. Don't take this the wrong way, Jack. But I think it's time for us to rejoin the human race."

"We can clean up," he agreed as he closed the book in his hands. "But do we have to go back out . . there?" he pointed to the door as if it led to the jungle.

"Civilization is not so bad."

"Our son temporarily had the inability to feel pain or the need to sleep, he was lost floating through the transporter due to a lack of artificial gravity, and he almost got electrocuted," Jack reminded her. "And we're only half-way through our trip."

"It was all just temporary," she replied dismissively.

Now that the danger and excitement and trauma had passed, it had lost some of its direness. Elizabeth figured whatever didn't do them in just made them stronger. "You've got to get back to work –"

"I've been working from my computer," he interjected.

"Sitting lazily on the floor scrolling through your messages while your son crawls all over you isn't exactly the work you're used to."

Jack paused and thought about leaving the cabin. His mind played back his investigation into the damaged water pipes as well as some possible irregularities with contracts involving Coal Valley.

"I do need to follow-up on some things," he admitted with a spark of interest.

"And I've got to get back to teaching. I feel sluggish. We're going to turn into fat blimps if we stay in here any longer."

"Fine. But I want reassurances that nothing bad will happen to us out there."

Elizabeth chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to be the brave law enforcement officer?"

"Good point."

Jack jumped down from his bunk. "How about I get the dirty laundry? You get the food containers."

* * *

The downside of living in close quarters was that there was no place to put trash and the cabin had quickly become a mess. The upside was that the cabin was small enough and they had so few belongings that it was quick to clean.

Elizabeth left a large bag of trash at the refuse compactor and recycling room, and headed to the fitness center.

After three days of self-imposed quarantine, her body felt bloated and weak. The only exercise she had done had been playing with Aaron, and "couples exercise" with Jack which had elevated her heart rate and included some interesting positions, but wasn't exactly on the transporter's official list of recommended fitness activities.

The weights and stationary bicycles were being used, so Elizabeth hopped on the only available treadmill.

Her sneakers made a soft pat sound as they hit the revolving belt under her feet, and she adjusted the speed to a comfortable pace. Little red lights illuminated the small oval on her control panel indicating how far she had gone. The first mile was fine and actually made her feel good about herself.

 _Ten minutes_. Elizabeth wiped a hand across her glistening forehead and silently read the digital output on the instrument panel.

 _Not bad for a married mother of one who hates to jog. While Jack's with Aaron at his office investigating whatever men investigate, I'm getting in top physical condition._

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the man on the machine next to her hit his off switch and step down. He had already worked up a sweat before she had started, and she wondered how many miles he had run.

She debated whether to also stop.

 _Nah, I'm in good shape. I can probably do three miles with no problem. I know Jack wanted me and Aaron all to himself, but it was time to get out of the cabin._

 _. . . . . It's just a little hard keeping up with the machine._

Thirteen minutes later, a panting Elizabeth wished she had brought a bottle of water with her and wondered why treadmills had even been invented.

 _They should be called dreadmills._

She was just finishing her second mile when Alexandra, the five-foot ten-inch slender perfect specimen of a female who had been on Elizabeth's first transporter flight three years ago, stepped onto the empty machine next to her.

 _No. Not the gazelle_ , Elizabeth groaned. _She makes me feel like a hippo plodding through the mud._

"Hi, Elizabeth." Alexandra's smile showed off her perfect white teeth which actually seemed to sparkle. Everything about Alexandra always seemed to sparkle, Elizabeth realized with a frown.

"Hi, Alex," Elizabeth replied with forced attempt at ease as she tried not to breathe too heavily. She hoped that the other woman didn't mind the nickname, but Alexandra was too many syllables for her to muster after running two miles.

"Is your machine working okay? It seems a bit slow," a concerned Alexander asked.

"It's fine," Elizabeth said airily and then sucked in a huge gulp of air when Alexandra bend down to tie her laces.

"If it's not, you can use this one. I don't mind swimming instead."

"No, it's fine. I'm on a slow-down stretch. Interval training," Elizabeth added knowingly. "I'll speed up right now actually. "

 _Damn it! Why did I say that?!_

Elizabeth pushed the buttons and the pad under her feet began moving at an increased pace.

She moved as fast as she could. Her feet pounding the pad. She was vaguely aware that her pony tail holder had fallen out, but she kept going. Her arms moved back and forth by her side. She barely had time to watch the red indicator light move around the oval as she tried to breathe and answer Alexandra's polite questions about how she was enjoying the trip. Thankfully the other woman was doing most of the talking.

Although, she hoped that she resembled an actual runner, Elizabeth was pretty sure that she looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame running from the French police.

 _Cramp!_

 _Breathe. Must breathe!_

 _Must stop!_

Elizabeth slammed her hand on the stop button and almost fell over onto it when the machine came to a stop.

 _Dear Lord, let me breathe!_

"Finished already? Too bad. It's nice to have someone to talk to. Ten miles can get boring," Alexander noted as she kept up her own pace of eight-minute miles. "We'll have to start at the same time next time."

The green digital numbers indicating Elizabeth's distance of 2.5 miles seemed to shine especially bright but Elizabeth managed to hit the erase button before Alexandra could strain her neck and see them.

"Of course!" Elizabeth replied with a lopsided grin as she nonchalantly placed a hand on her side where the cramp had turned into a sharp pain. "Next time!"

"Your face is pretty red," Alexander said with concern as she continued running. "Are you feeling okay? I haven't seen you around the last few days. Have you been sick? You look kind of flushed."

Elizabeth gave a forced laugh. "I get red easily when I work out. Just my fair complexion. You should see me after I run a marathon. Sooo red. Bye now."

As soon as her back was to Alexandra, Elizabeth bent over and gulped in air.

 _I'm red because I can't breathe. I'm sweating. My blood vessels are dilating. I'm overheating._

 _This is worse than giving birth!_

* * *

One look in the mirror and Elizabeth decided she needed a shower before Jack and Aaron got back to their quarters. Her face was still a brilliant red from over-working. Her body was sweaty. Even her hair was sweaty.

The shower felt heavenly as she sang her favorite song and lathered her hair into a fluffy pile on top of her head.

"You fill up my seeennssess. Like a night in a foreessstttt. Like the mountains in –"

The water cascading down onto her bare body stopped suddenly.

Elizabeth stopped singing, frowned, and looked up at the shower-head.

 _What happened? That was only about four minutes._

 _Darn._

She grimaced when she remembered the long showers they had taken as a family over the past three days.

 _We can't be out of water minutes for this week, can we?_

 _I've still got soap in my hair._

Elizabeth reached her hand outside the shower and punched her code into the small panel of buttons. When she wasn't rewarded with a stream of water, she punched in Jack's code.

Nothing.

Finally, she punched in Aaron's code.

Three drops of water came out of the shower-head.

 _Aarggh!_ She griped and then stomped one of her feet.

Exiting the shower, she ignored the water dripping from her body onto the floor, and stood naked in front of the control panel as she re-entered each of the numbers one more time. The shower-head remained dry.

When they had first arrived on the ship, Jack had insisted that they ration their water minutes, but Elizabeth realized this was somewhat of an emergency. She had a head full of shampoo and needed water.

 _I just have to over-ride our system_ , she decided and began punching in the code for the next week. Before she could finish, a large blob of lather fell down from her forehead. She carelessly wiped it away, causing the shampoo to get into her eyes.

Squinting in pain, she stumbled across the small room and blindingly reached for a towel from the bar near one of the doors.

When her fumbling hands came up empty, she opened one of her eyes no more than a slit, and glanced at the empty towel bar. It was then that she remembered that Jack had taken all the laundry -and towels - to be washed.

Elizabeth was faced with nakedly going into her room and wiping her painful eyes on a piece of clothing or getting the water turned back on. As she quickly decided what to do, more soap blobs slid down her body and landed on the hard floor.

She decided to try next week's water again.

Staggering back to the control panel, she kept her eyes squinted as she punched in a sequence of numbers.

The effect was immediate. It just wasn't what she had hoped for. Or expected.

EMERGENCY!

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.

PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

EMERGENCY!

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.

PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

The words blared from the intercom in the small bathroom, causing her to jump in surprise.

"No! No!" she screamed as she realized she must have typed in the wrong code. She frantically began pressing her fingers on the buttons.

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

"Turn off!" she screamed as she pounded more numbers.

The red emergency light in the corner of the bathroom was now flashing and a beeping sound emitted from the intercom.

When she heard loud voices on the other side of one of the bathroom dooms, a naked Elizabeth, her eyes still burning, frantically tried to make her way into her own room.

Thud.

Her body slammed into a wall before falling to the floor as one of her feet slipped on a wet soapy puddle. She lay sprawled like a rag doll as the door to the adjoining room began to slide open.

* * *

"What happened next?" Jack asked again. His face was scrunched in confusion as he looked at a wet-haired Elizabeth who was sporting a bump on her forehead as she sat on a lower berth dressed in damp clothes. She had already explained the situation once but Jack was unsure why she was still seemed upset.

"When the stupid alarm went off, I couldn't get the right code punched in fast enough and I heard voices coming from the other room. There was some kind of game going on over there with a bunch of friends. I was standing there naked, there were no towels, and I slipped when I tried to hurry up and get into our room before the door slid open. So now I've been seen naked by someone other than you."

Jack shrugged off her concern. "I don't think Susie or Joyce will think too much of it. Yeah, it's odd that they saw their teacher naked, but they'll get over it and they aren't ones to laugh and make fun of you."

Elizabeth glared at Jack. "It wasn't Susie or Joyce."

"Whoever," Jack said dismissively. "So a friend of theirs saw you. Just remind your students that they shouldn't gossip or tease and that everyone gets into an embarrassing situation at some point in their lives. They'll listen to you. They respect you. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"It wasn't one of their friends." Elizabeth's nostrils flared in irritation.

"It was Linda?" Jack asked but didn't wait for an answer. "She's a grown woman. I'm sure she's seen other naked women. Stop worrying. She's totally nice and understanding and she was coming to help you."

"It wasn't Susie. Or Joyce. Or Linda," Elizabeth said coldly. "And it wasn't just one person. It was three."

Jack paused.

His face had a pensive expression and then his eyes got wide in horror.

"No?! It was Linda's husband, Keith?!"

Elizabeth nodded. "And two of his engineering friends. Actually, he had three friends over. But one of the guys couldn't fit in the bathroom, so only three males whom I barely know saw me totally naked. I suppose I should be grateful that the fourth couldn't fit," she added sarcastically.

"Are you sure they saw you naked?" Jack asked with a grimace. "Like really _naked_?"

"Yep. They helped me off the floor and into our room. One almost slipped on top of me when they first came in the room. Between the lights and the emergency beeps and the stupid intercom blaring EMERGENCY and the wet floor it was quite chaotic."

"Maybe they averted their eyes?" Jack offered hopefully.

"As they carried me in here?" she replied skeptically with raised eyebrows.

Jack paused. "Yeah. I'm sure they did. Grown men don't care about –

"One of them is that twenty-one-year-old right out of college. It's his first trip," Elizabeth interrupted.

"Umm. Yeah, but he probably couldn't see anything. Or maybe he didn't care. Yes. I'm sure of it. They didn't notice anything."

Elizabeth gave Jack a look of disgust.

"He mentioned my birthmark," she said irritably.

Jack looked confused at first. "But that's impossible, it's -. Oh man", he said with realization when he thought about the location of her small birthmark.

"Okay," he told her as he tried to alleviate her embarrassment and anger. "That's not so bad."

"Not so bad?!"

"He saw one breast. No big deal."

"If he saw one, I'm pretty sure he saw two," she said bitterly and then gave him another look of disgust that he didn't seem to grasp the horror of the situation of being caught naked in the bathroom. "They're thankfully in the same general vicinity. I'm not some mutant woman with one breast on my front and one on my back."

"What difference does it make if he saw one or two? They look the same!" a helpless Jack exclaimed.

"They saw my breasts!" she wailed.

"You've got great breasts," Jack said reassuringly. "It's not so bad that they saw them. Things could have been worse."

"After they had left and I had hurriedly thrown on some clothes, one of the guy's wife came with some towels. She works in the laundry. She said it's nice that I don't have stretch marks after having a baby."

"How'd she know that?"

"He told her! When he was telling her how he almost fell on top of a naked me. Luckily, I was so soapy, his hands slipped off of me and he landed on the floor."

Jack cringed. "That's a compliment. That he told his wife that you didn't have stretch marks," he said meekly.

"He saw my bare body! Think about where I'd have stretchmarks. And he looked long enough to know I don't have any!"

"Just your stomach! That's all he mentioned."

Elizabeth scowled and then huffed as she pulled her wet hair off her shoulders, took a band off her wrist, and looped it around her hair.

So . . . . two guys saw you totally . . . naked," Jack said cautiously as he considered the matter.

"Don't you want to hear what the third guy had to say?" Elizabeth asked tersely.

A bit of fear crossed Jack's face. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear. His wife had a great body but she had never been one to flaunt it. He knew that she tended to be on the modest side when compared to many women her age.

"The third guy? You mean Keith?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Linda came by with a razor about ten minutes ago."

"A razor?"

"She was trying to be helpful. Apparently, her husband told her that he had seen me naked and it looked like I must have forgotten to pack a razor on this trip."

"But you shaved your legs just the other day," Jack protested. "I saw you."

"He wasn't talking about my legs," Elizabeth retorted bitterly.

Jack's eyes opened wide in shock.

"Your underarms?" he meekly asked with false hope.

"Lower down."

Jack didn't say anything but simply put his face in his hands in defeat. He knew they should have avoided civilization.


	89. Chapter 89 Shoe Girl

**CHAPTER 89 SHOE GIRL**

"What's the message about?"

Elizabeth, her hair now almost dry from her afternoon shower, finished playing with Aaron's toes and gave her giggling son another kiss on his tummy. She was sitting on a lower berth of their cabin while Jack sat at her small desk replying to a message that had come over his bracelet.

Jack leaned back in the chair and smiled as his son squealed in laughter before answering her question.

"The kitchen staff is mad that the Captain wrote them up for dumping food into the drains. I need to go to the conference room later this week in case things get out of hand."

"Why's the kitchen staff upset? It's their own fault if they get written up."

"It's Luna. You know how she can get."

Elizabeth had first met Luna while visiting the kitchen. It took several occasions of encountering the woman, who was in her late twenties, before Elizabeth was no longer mesmerized by the way Luna looked. The young woman had pale skin, pale blond hair that she frequently wore in two long braids, and a habit of wearing sparkly deep-blue eyeshadow that on anyone else -including Elizabeth- would look outrageously out of place, but on Luna, it looked . . . ethereal. Elizabeth half-suspected that Luna did it on purpose so that her look corresponded to her given name. And it worked, because she somehow managed to make people think of a moon goddess when they looked at her. Her personality was less heavenly. More like an anxiety-ridden perfectionist.

"She insists that they didn't put any food down the drain but when that first pipe burst on the lower level, they found food scraps.," Jack continued. "It's not a big deal. Just a simple infraction. But she refuses to accept it. Wants a hearing."

"A hearing? Over stupid food down the drain? That's a bit much isn't it?"

"Definitely. But she has an impeccable record and she's the senior person under Abigail, so it's her responsibility to oversee the disposal of food. Every left-over scrap that's not dairy or meat needs to be sent to the horticulture room to be composted. If someone put it in the wrong receptacle because they weren't paying attention or were too lazy to dispose of it properly, they need to be reprimanded. Her hearing's this week and the First Officer thinks she might be a bit of trouble. He wants me there for added security."

Elizabeth chuckled. "So, my big strong law enforcement husband who has dealt with murders and saboteurs is now dealing with left-over food scraps going down the sink. My, how the mighty have fallen."

Instead of verbally responding, Jack moved like an animal on a hunt with his prey in sight.

Elizabeth giggled and tried to duck out of the way but Jack tackled her anyway.

"Careful!" she shrieked through her laughs. "You'll smoosh Aaron!"

Jack moved his torso sideways but continued to pin Elizabeth to the mattress as he began placing kisses on her stomach while she squealed happily.

* * *

"I am not going to the Cafeteria," Elizabeth declared as the evening's dinner menu was announced over the intercom, and as if on cue, her stomach rumbled.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not," Elizabeth insisted.

It had been hours since the Elizabeth had been discovered in the shower, and Jack was hungry. Despite Jack's attempts to alleviate her embarrassment, Elizabeth hadn't forgotten the incident.

"The kitchen is not going to keep bringing us food. They know we're not sick or traumatized by the electrical cable, or needing time to deal with some marriage problem or whatever excuse you want to come up with," Jack told her.

"I am never showing my face again on this transporter after the fiasco in the bathroom.'

"It's not your face that's the problem," Jack mumbled.

"How do you expect me to go out there?! They saw me naked!" Elizabeth wailed.

"And they were damn lucky to get to see such a sight," Jack noted firmly.

"Aren't you the least bit upset? That men have seen your wife naked."

"Listen, Elizabeth, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm guessing the men have seen lots of naked women. Not only women they've dated but female acquaintances. Training schools are co-ed. Living quarters are co-ed. It's not that big a deal. I've seen naked women other than you."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at him. "Do you really think that's the appropriate thing to say at a time like this?"

Jack shrugged. "Yeah."

"Is it supposed to make me feel better that my husband has seen lots of naked women? Because I'm guessing that only a guy would think that."

"I didn't say _lots_ ," Jack clarified. "But I've seen naked women and it's not a big deal. It's natural. Think about it."

"I'd rather not," she grumbled.

Jack ignored her response. "We shared a cabin with Candy and Becca. They were always dressing and undressing in front of the two of us. They didn't care about trying to cover up. Remember how they were always trying on clothes and you hated looking at Becca's breasts because they were nice and perky, and Candy didn't care that I saw that faint scar on her upper thigh and Becca didn't care that I saw her –"

Jack's voice trailed off when he saw Elizabeth's expression. She was scrutinizing him with a look of condescension and disgust.

"You do realize that you're just digging yourself deeper and deeper into a hole?" she observed dryly.

* * *

Jack carried the cafeteria tray in one hand and slowed his pace so the spaghetti wouldn't slosh off the plate. A few passengers gave him curious looks as they passed him, wondering why he was having yet another meal in the seclusion of his cabin.

"Hmm. Smells good," a smiling Elizabeth, who was sitting on the floor, said when Jack walked in the room and she caught the aroma of garlic bread.

"Spaghetti, garlic bread, green beans, and apples."

"Did you bring me tea?"

Elizabeth uncurled her legs from under her and reached for the tray.

"Of course. But it's not going to be hot by the time you finish dinner. Which is another reason why we should have eaten in the cafeteria."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Not until the men forget they saw me naked."

"They can't forget it, Elizabeth. Men don't _forget_ they saw a woman naked. They either remember it pleasantly or indifferently or with disgust. I think we can agree that in your case, disgust is not an option. The best we can hope for is indifference. And even that's going to be stretching it. I've seen you naked. But I don't think the men are going to bring it up with you. Everyone on this ship is a professional."

Elizabeth tried to hide her pleasure at Jack's assessment of her naked body, and realized that there was nothing to be done about the shower event. Jack was right. Most people didn't consider nudity to be that big of a deal. The incident would quickly be a thing of the past as long as she didn't bring it up.

She handed Jack his utensils and the couple talked between bites of food.

"Tell me about the case you've been working on this week," she prompted him.

While neither of them had been overwhelmed with work duties, she had noticed that he seemed to be involved in some kind of investigation.

"A contract is coming up for food production on Coal Valley and there are questions about the integrity of the studies. One of the scientists in agriculture in Coal Valley has apparently some way of making Zea Mays – corn - that's doing fantastic but not everyone on Earth is convinced. They say his results are inflated. They just can't figure out how he's doing it."

"What do you mean? He's growing good corn. Why is that so hard for them to believe?"

Jack took a bite of spaghetti and then continued with his explanation.

"Every transporter brings back a sample of produce that's grown in Coal Valley. It's tested and evaluated on Earth for nutritional value, disease resistance, sustainability. But some of the stuff coming back this last year seems almost too good to be true given the soil and water conditions and available growing light in Coal Valley."

"Maybe the scientist is just really talented."

"Some people in Coal Valley are saying that what they see coming out of the greenhouses is not that great. That it's tasteless and lacks nutritional value. But every sample we get on Earth is near perfect."

Elizabeth swallowed a piece of garlic bread and took a gulp of water from her bottle before asking her next question.

"How do they know the samples on Earth are actually coming from Coal Valley?"

"They're tagged in Coal Valley, scanned when they are put on a transporter headed home, and scanned when they get off the ship back on Earth."

"Could someone be substituting the food back on Earth?"

As they finished their meal, Jack explained that had been one of the original assumptions; that a bad tasteless product was being substituted on Earth with a superior sample of corn, but the investigation had showed no interruption of the product from the time it left the greenhouses in Coal Valley until it arrived at the laboratory back on Earth. There was an impeccable chain of evidence. Every incredible sample of corn tested on Earth as having been grown in Coal Valley had indeed traveled from Coal Valley.

And it was causing some businessmen to lose many a night's sleep as they furiously wondered how the competition was doing so well.

"If someone can grow enough food in Coal Valley, that's less shipping that has to be done," Elizabeth remarked. "Which means more room on transporters for personal belongings in cargo. And more people will think about moving there if it has a fresh supply of food."

"Millions of dollars in business are up for grabs," Jack continued. "Each company wants the contract to sustain a far-away colony. And you know what I always say."

Elizabeth wiped her mouth and then took a piece of spaghetti out of her son's hair. Placing it back into his tiny hand, she watched as he tried to shove the thin slippery pasta into his mouth. "What do you always say?" she questioned Jack.

Jack gave her a look of exasperation. "The three motivations for everything?" he prodded her.

"Oh yeah," Elizabeth said pensively as she remembered that for every investigation, Jack looked at three motivations.

She just couldn't remember the three things.

"Love, love, and love?" she offered hopefully.

Jack raised his eyebrows at her and gave her a humous look. "That's just for us because we are adorable. For most people they are money, fame, and jealousy."

* * *

Elizabeth looked at her watch and wondered what was taking Jack so long. He was supposed to drop off the dirty dinner dishes at the Cafeteria and then come back to the cabin to watch a movie with her. The ship was much bigger than her house back on Earth -it was more like the size of a large office building- but it wasn't so large that he should still be gone. She wondered if he had gotten side-tracked with someone wanting him to play a game of racquetball or watch sports in one of the lounges.

 _If we were back home and I was sitting on the couch, he would have just have gone a few feet to the kitchen sink,_ she thought wistfully. _Then we'd snuggle up with a faux fur blanket. Maybe even have a fire going in the fireplace._

After another ten minutes of waiting, Elizabeth decided to message him.

Coming back soon?

When she didn't get an immediate response, she clicked her fingers on the small lettered keypad.

Everything okay?

This time a message came back within seconds.

Fine.

I thought you'd be back by now.

In office.

What's up?

Got a strange message. I'll be a while, came back Jack's reply.

* * *

Elizabeth threw Aaron's wet diaper into the receptacle by the door and wondered what to do to occupy herself until Jack got back. It had been an hour since his last message.

Now that she had put Aaron down for a good night's rest, Elizabeth was trying to decide if she should work on a history lesson or read a book. It looked like watching a movie with Jack was no longer going to happen tonight.

Her bracelet beeped, signifying an incoming message.

Did you order some shoes?

Elizabeth's forehead crinkled in confusion and she wondered if the auto-correct had changed Jack's message to render it entirely something other than what he had intended.

What? She held down the Alt key and then typed in the numbers 127796 on the small key pad and hit the send button.

Immediately, the image of a palm tree replaced the numbers.

 _Darn, wrong numbers_ , she thought with a frown when she saw the small green and brown symbol. _I meant to make a shoe._

? Why did you type a palm tree? came the message from Jack.

Mistake.

How is a palm tree an answer to my question?!

I said it was a mistake. I typed it wrong. It was supposed to be a cowboy boot. I was trying to be cute.

Are you on drugs?!

Elizabeth scowled when she read his message. It was obvious that Jack wasn't a fan of emojis when he was at work. She quickly typed another message of her own.

Where are you and why did you ask about shows?

SHOES!

I hate auto-correct!

Did you order some shoes? Jack repeated his earlier question.

How would I order shoes on a transporter?

I don't know.

When would I have ordered shoes on a transporter?

I don't know!

WHY would I order shoes on a transporter?

DID YOU ORDER SHOES?!

NO! Why?

I didn't think so, Jack typed and hit the button sending the message.

Then why did you ask?

Just checking. And it was better than the other possibility.

Elizabeth's forehead scrunched in puzzlement. She had no idea why Jack was concerned about shoes, or what other possibility.

What other possibility? She sent the message and waited for a reply.

Never-mind.

Tell me.

Stupid idea someone had.

Tell me.

You're running a call-girl service.

Elizabeth drew back when she read the message.

 _What?! He can't have meant to write call-girl._

 _It must have been auto-corrected. But for what?_

 _Maybe he meant a cowgirl service?_

She frowned _. What's a cowgirl service?_

 _Or maybe calligraphy service?_ _Because I have nice penmanship?_

 _He definitely didn't mean to write call-girl._

? Cowgirl? Calligraphy? What kind of service? she typed and then hit send.

Call girl.

CALL GIRL?!

Jack shook his head in exasperation that he had even mentioned it to her but nevertheless type a reply.

Call-girl. Prostitute. Escort. Wh*re.

Why would I be running a call-girl service? I can't barely run on the dreadmill!

That's what I told Headquarters when they questioned me.

Why is Headquarters on Earth questioning you about me?! What is going on?!

I'll be here a bit longer. Still getting messages.


	90. Chapter 90- Space Math

**CHAPTER 90- SPACE MATH**

"A pyramid scheme?! She's running a pyramid scheme out of our house?!"

Elizabeth had been pacing the floor of their small quarters for several minutes. Initially stunned by what Jack had told her about Julie, she was now irate.

Aaron had watched her go back and forth across the room several times in the hopes that she would do something interesting, but all his mother did was wildly throw up her arms into the air as she spoke loudly.

"As near as I can tell," Jack responded.

It was two days since Jack's odd message to Elizabeth about shoes and call-girls, and he was finally telling Elizabeth about the investigation back in Liskow. Initially claiming that he was bound by office privacy rules and confidential investigations, he had told her nothing more when he had returned to their quarters that night other that she was not to worry about anything and when he could divulge more information, he would.

Elizabeth had decided that the whole incident had been a misunderstanding of some kind back on Earth, and since she hadn't ordered any shoes or female escorts recently, she had put the matter from her mind. Especially because Jack had assured her that he would handle it.

Rather than worry about foot apparel and prostitution, she had instead concentrated on her lesson plans.

Until tonight.

When Jack had finally been able to confide in her.

He had come back to the room and explained to Elizabeth about the series of messages he had received at the security office involving their home in Liskow and an attractive Thatcher woman who had been having small intimate parties in the evenings.

There was also the matter of several stay-at-home moms who had a sudden income working out of their homes with seemingly no business skills, no large inventory, and no actual observable work.

"And I guess sometimes shoes have women's names?" Jack questioned. "Women were sending messages saying they knew someone who wanted to order a sexy Mary Jane, or a flat ballerina."

"Ballerina flat," Elizabeth corrected Jack.

"What's the difference?"

"One's a flat-chested dancer. The other's a shoe like a ballerina would wear."

"Whatever. It all seemed a bit suspicious when law enforcement first looked into it. They thought maybe it was some kind of bored suburban wife escort service. And then it turned from a suspected prostitution ring into a suspected get rich plan being run out of our house."

"She talked these women into joining a shoe business – a pyramid scheme?"

"She recruited them to sell shoes through some company called "She Savors Sweet Shoes". They paid a fee upfront, and then she got them to recruit their own friends and families to sell. She gets a percentage of the sales from all her recruits and from their recruits. Something called a downline."

"I know how they work," Elizabeth told him. "There are tons of them. Make-up. Hair products. Jewelry. Perfumes. Teas. Kids toys."

"Well the husbands didn't know about them. And the wives were keeping it a secret to surprise their husbands with a bunch of money they hoped to earn. The men got suspicious and talked among themselves. A few beers and a lot of imagination later, and they thought maybe their wives were paying a percentage of their income to Julie because she was their pimp."

"And they called in the police?!"

Jack nodded. "They were concerned."

"I just can't believe Julie got involved in one of those pyramid schemes," a somewhat stunned Elizabeth replied.

But she realized, even as she said the words, that she did believe it. It was exactly something Julie would do.

"Not just involved. One of the top leaders. And she recruited most of the neighborhood," Jack told her.

"The parties at our house?"

Jack nodded again. "And hosting parties with them at their houses."

"All those invitations she was getting," Elizabeth said almost to herself. "I knew it seemed odd."

Elizabeth sat the edge of a mattress and slumped forward.

"So, the police were surveilling our house and my name is listed on the mortgage with yours, so they thought I was involved."

"Well, it did have them curious as to what was going on in an officer's home. Especially because there was a lot of money suddenly coming into Julie's bank accounts – they checked. And she's an attractive woman, who by the way, was having that boyfriend of hers sleep over a few times."

"Which boyfriend?"

"Does it matter?"

"I suppose not," Elizabeth admitted with a discontented shake of her head.

"They thought maybe you had set her up as a replacement in your role as a pimp or a pyramid scheme leader. Every woman on our street was involved."

"I told her to treat our house with respect and take care of it!" Elizabeth exploded. "It's a quiet family neighborhood!"

"Not so quiet anymore. And I'm not so sure about the _family_ part. It appears Julie's business has caused a lot of marital arguments."

Elizabeth put her head in her hands and tried not to imagine her peaceful quiet street with its picket fences and flower boxes now in an uproar. This was worse than the crazed squirrels in her backyard.

"The thing fell apart pretty quickly when the women realized there was no one to sell to because they had all joined. Then they got angry."

"Tell me again about the police breaking up the fight."

"Some of the women demanded their investment money back from Julie."

"Did she give it back?"

"She did. To some of them. But then all the others wanted their money back, and I guess things got pretty heated when a couple of them came to the house during one of Julie's parties and confronted her."

"And people got assaulted?! And arrested?!"

Jack shrugged in reply. "Shoes were thrown. Apparently, something called a stiletto missed Julie's head and got stuck in one of our walls."

"I knew she couldn't be trusted with our house!"

"And what's a mule? Please tell me it's some kind of shoe and not an animal."

"It's a shoe that doesn't have a back," Elizabeth explained.

A perplexed Jack stared at her. "Why would you want a shoe without a back?"

"You slip in. Like slippers," Elizabeth mumbled. "They're casual."

"Well, it wasn't very casual when it went through our dining room window."

"I'll kill her!"

* * *

Killing Julie wasn't an option since Elizabeth was more than a million miles away from her, and getting farther away every minute.

And as Jack reminded Elizabeth, she was opposed to violence. It was one of the things he loved about her.

So instead, she fired off a heated hologram message. It would be days, if not weeks, before her younger sister received it. By then, Elizabeth's tirade about respect for someone else's property and reputation would have lost some of its sting.

Jack was upset too, but as he explained to Elizabeth, it was too late to do anything about it now, and by the time they returned in two years, Julia would have made amends to the neighbors and the incident would hopefully have been long forgiven.

Besides, his attention was on another matter.

* * *

"I have a theory," he called out one morning as he stood in front of the mirror in the small bathroom. Using short, light, downward strokes, he moved the thin razor blade across his face. Removing the foam and short facial hairs.

Elizabeth, holding Aaron Daniel on her hip, moved over to the doorway and leaned against the frame.

"Remember how I said that every transporter brings back a sample of produce that's grown in Coal Valley," Jack said.

"Yeah."

"And you asked how they know the samples on Earth are actually coming from Coal Valley."

"You said they're tagged in Coal Valley, scanned when they are put on a transporter headed home, and scanned when they get off the ship back on Earth," Elizabeth reminded him.

"Right." Jack took a small cloth and wiped off the remaining shaving foam from his face. "And you asked if someone could be substituting the food back on Earth."

Elizabeth crouched down and set her squirming son on the floor. "You said no. Do you now think that's what's happening? They're being substituted when they get back to Earth?"

"No. I think they're being substituted in Coal Valley." Jack couldn't help but smile at his idea. "We know there's a chain of custody from Coal Valley to Earth. But what about if the substitution takes place in Coal Valley?"

"But where's the substituted good corn coming from?"

"From Earth. On a transporter. Like this one. It's getting smuggled in. Probably easily in the cargo hold. And then it's turned around and sent back as if it originated in Coal Valley."

* * *

Jack spend the next two days with staff members inspecting every crate in the cargo hold. When their search revealed nothing, he moved on to the individual passenger quarters and crew quarters. From there, he moved on to the offices and work rooms. Searching under berths, in lockers, and behind every movable piece of anything.

After two more days, he hadn't found a single ear of perfect corn. Or any ears of corn.

However the corn was getting to Coal Valley, it didn't seem to be getting there on the transporter.

Jack was discouraged, puzzled, and tired of invading everyone's privacy. He had seen dirty socks, interrupted people making out, disturbed laboratory experiments, gotten stung by a bee in the apiary, and gotten attacked by a bird in the aviary. And still no corn.

He just wanted to go back to his own quiet quarters, play with his son, crawl into a berth with Elizabeth, and not have to see another thing on this transporter.

* * *

"Can we see your attoeme sometime?" eight-year-old Susie asked Elizabeth.

The students were sitting at their assigned tables in the room used as a school, and had just finished a story on the industrial revolution.

"My what?" Elizabeth asked with a curious smile. She was used to young children mispronouncing words.

The young girl shrugged. "Your attoeme."

Although usually good at guessing what a student meant, Elizabeth was perplexed by this one.

 _Attoeme_?

"I don't know what you saying. What's an attoeme?"

Susie shrugged. "I don't know. That's why I want to see yours. My mom and dad were talking about you and my dad said that he doesn't care about your attoeme. And my mom said that was good, but you might care that it was out there for everyone to see."

" _An_ atomy? You mean _anatomy_?"

As the words came out of her mouth, Elizabeth suddenly felt her heart racing. _My anatomy?!_

Joyce piped in. "Our mom said you might be embarrassed that he saw yours, but our dad said it's not something he hasn't seen before. And if you were going to be embarrassed it would be about how stupid you were to punch in the wrong code in the bathroom."

"Shh. Susie," Joyce hissed. "You weren't supposed to tell her that Daddy called her stupid!"

"I. . . I wasn't stupid. I had shampoo in my eyes," Elizabeth retorted indignantly. _It was too good to be true. I knew someone was talking about the shower incident!_ she thought bitterly.

"Our mom told us that we need to be careful not to open the bathroom door when you're in there," Joyce spoke up.

"That's a very good rule," Elizabeth noted. "Now, let's turn to our math lesson."

"Can we see–"

"NO!" Elizabeth interrupted. "It's math time. We'll do vocabulary another day,"

Joyce nudged her sister, and then leaned over and whispered. When Susie didn't say anything, Joyce whispered hoarsely. "Ask her."

"Girls," Elizabeth said sternly.

"It's about math."

"We haven't even opened up the computer program yet. What's going on girls?" a suspicious Elizabeth asked.

"We don't know if you know math very well."

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth, taken off-guard, replied.

"Dad said that you spend a lot of time in the shower."

"We're talking about math now. Not the bathroom."

"It's math!"

Susie nodded in agreement with her sister. "When our mom and dad were talking about you, Dad said you spend a lot of time in the bathroom, and my mom told him to be quiet, but dad said that's because you're not alone in there. And when we asked what they were talking about, our mom said she just meant that you and Officer Thornton take showers together sometime to save water minutes."

"But that doesn't make any sense if you take longer showers," Joyce added quickly. "Cuz you're not saving water minutes if you take longer showers."

Elizabeth noticed that her one Japanese-speaking student was hurriedly typing the conversation into her automatic translator. She could only imagine how this was being translated as the girl seemed more and more interested in the conversation. In fact, all the students were now staring at her.

"And then Dad said that from what he heard there was a whole lot more than showering going on. But then mom told him to be quiet."

"I guess he means washing your hair too," Susie said with a tilt of her head as she considered the matter.

"Ask her about the math," Joyce urged Susie.

"You ask her."

 _Please don't ask me anything_ , Elizabeth thought in a feeble attempt at mind control.

"Is math the same on Earth as on the transporter?"

Elizabeth had to admit that question surprised her. She had no idea where this conversation was going, but with a bit of relief she realized that it wouldn't have anything to do with her and Jack.

"Math is the same everywhere. That's what is so perfect about math. It's constant. It's factual. It's not open to interpretation. Why would you think it's different on the transporter than on Earth?"

"Because our mom told our dad that if one person wants to take a shower with another person, that's none of our business. Then our dad said that if we were back on Earth, and you and Officer Thornton were together in the shower, one plus one would have made another one by now."

 **Up next: Chapter 91**

 **Dear Readers: I hope it made you smile.** 😊


	91. Chapter 91 - Home Aside

**CHAPTER 91 – Home Aside**

It was horrible," Elizabeth whined.

She had come back to their family quarters after dismissing her students and impatiently waited for Jack to return from the swimming pool. The entire time she waited, she had become more and more irate.

She had decided that the whole trip was Jack's fault.

And then, not wanting to blame Jack because she loved him and he was actually pretty wonderful, Elizabeth had blamed the North American Defense Force. The Force had changed Jack's orders, made her take a physical fitness test with only hours' notice, forced the family to leave their cute home in Julie's irresponsible care, and somehow, in Elizabeth's mind, was even to blame for her forgetting to get implanted with birth control, falling on the shower room floor, and being found naked by three men.

Jack, wearing swim trunks and a towel around his neck, had barely stepped over the threshold of their small assigned quarters when Elizabeth began her rant.

It would have been more impressive of a rant if she didn't have to compete for Jack's attention.

Aaron, who cooing and giggling as Jack changed him out of his swim diaper and into a dry set of clothes, seemed to be taking away some of Jack's focus, but Elizabeth thought that she had done a good job at explaining the depth of her embarrassment over her students asking her about her anatomy and questioning her shower practices.

Except Jack, juggling a squirming baby in his arms, didn't seem to take it as seriously as she had.

"Look at the bright side," he said encouragingly.

"The bright side? The bright side that our suite mates, one of whom saw me naked, heard us making out in the shower? What bright side?!"

Jack cringed at her outburst before speaking. "That Keith wasn't fazed by seeing you naked."

"Oh, right. . . ," Elizabeth said agreeably as her eyes seem to brighten at the idea. "The bright side."

A naïve Jack relaxed his shoulders at her words.

"He wasn't fazed by seeing me naked," she said as she appeared to contemplate Jack's words. "He doesn't think my naked body is a big deal. . . . because he's too busy thinking about how STUPID I AM!" Her tone increased until it reached a crescendo.

She threw up her hands in angry emphasis before continuing to rant.

"Because I can't even enter a shower-code properly, or figure out that taking longer showers together with you doesn't save water minutes! And can you imagine if they found out about me forgetting to get my birth control implanted! Who cares if I'm seen naked? I'm just STUPID. A STUPID TEACHER! A STUPID TEACHER WHO APPARENTLY MAKES LOVE TOO LOUDLY!"

Jack considered her words before pleasant replying.

"You do moan sometimes. But I like it."

"Jack!"

He realized that he clearly hadn't given the appropriate response even though it was true, so he tried another. "Maybe they just have good ears."

"They're not bats! They're humans with normal sized ears and normal hearing."

"You're exaggerating the whole situation", he replied dismissively and then inserted one of Acorn's kicking feet into the onesie and proceeded to button it. "No one has even mentioned it on the transporter. Other that telling their wives, and a couple of kids overhearing a conversation they didn't understand. There's been no gossip, no laughs, no teasing. Nothing like when you were the transporter tart or the ship's S and M girl on our first voyage. Now that was something."

"Bringing those up isn't helpful!"

"I think it is," a slightly insulted Jack told her.

"That's because no one has ever called you a tart, or S and M girl."

"Well, technically I'm not a girl so that wouldn't even make sense," he said knowingly.

Elizabeth glared at him.

"You're not upset because you were seen naked or heard us," Jack realized. "You're over that because no one cares. You're upset because they might think that you're stupid or careless or ditzy. In your teacher-like mind, the worse thing possible is that they've questioned your intellect."

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" he challenged when she didn't immediately respond.

Elizabeth huffed. "So what?" she retorted.

"So, your pride has been hurt" he said with a chuckle.

He ran his hand through his son's hair and set the boy on the ground with a stuffed animal toy before opening up his locker and pulling out some clothes. Stripping down in front of Elizabeth, he continued. "Get over it."

"Get over it? My students think I don't know math and their parents think I'm stupid. And I'm supposed to get over it?"

"Elizabeth, we probably are stupid compared to half the people on this ship. The passengers are busy splitting atoms or busting apart isotopes, or looking into quantum leaps or whatever half of them do. They're going to think we're stupid no matter what. And frankly, I don't care. The other half of the ship - the crew – thinks that you're brave and loyal to come out here with me and to teach kids on a distant planet. They're impressed by you, no matter what the science nerds may think. And actually, I think the science nerds are impressed with you too. You're kind and wonderful and treat everyone with respect."

"You don't bust apart isotypes," a flattered Elizabeth begrudgingly replied.

"I know _I_ don't."

A smile escaped Elizabeth's lips. "Nobody does. It's not a thing. You separate them by cryogenic distillation. The heavier ones sink and the lighter ones float."

"Well, you're smarter than me," he acknowledged with a smile. "And you don't see me getting all bothered."

Jack carefully removed his shoe from Aaron's mouth, causing the little boy to look up at his father and frown.

"Where's his teether?"

"It doesn't bother you? That someone thinks your wife is ditzy?" Elizabeth questioned as she dug around under a blanket and then handed Jack the improvised teether made of melted down and then molded condoms.

"Nope. Cuz I think you're perfect. And besides, there are only two people on this ship that I need to impress. You and this little guy, who can now swim, flip over, and float for eight seconds," Jack said proudly.

"Eight seconds? He's been having swim lessons for weeks, and he can only float for eight seconds?"

"I told you. It's not about actually swimming. Not like laps or something. For goodness sakes, he's just a baby," Jack replied in mild disgust that Elizabeth wasn't impressed with her son's progress. "It's about flipping onto his back and staying afloat until help arrives."

* * *

Elizabeth needed help. Well, not so much _help_. More like back-up.

Carrying her son on her hip, she walked down the hallway to Jack's office.

When she passed several people, they would smile if they felt like being polite, ignore her if they were busy, or stop to talk if they were friendly. None of them seemed aware that she and Jack had found the shower to be an interesting make-out room during their self-imposed quarantine, or that she had been found naked after falling with shampoo in her eyes. And no one seemed to consider her stupid, and if they did, it was based on their own assessments of IQs and not on how she acted on the transporter.

After breasting-feeding the baby, Elizabeth had stopped by the cafeteria and fed him a mixture of applesauce and oatmeal while Jack had gone back to work.

"What's up?" Jack asked when the door to his office slid open and Elizabeth now walked in with Aaron.

"I got a message from the ship's doctor. It's time for Aaron Daniel's eight-month check-up. I want you to go with me."

Jack leaned back in his chair and reached out his arms. Elizabeth transferred their son, who was stretching his own tiny arms, to him. Little Acorn was like a miniature version of his father. Brown hair. Expressive eyes. Adorable enough to make a woman melt.

"What happens at an eight-month check-up?" Jack asked as he allowed his son to grab at his face.

"The same thing as at a six-month check-up and a ten-month check-up. Weight. Length. Motor skills. Just to make sure he's meeting his milestones."

"Any shots for him?"

"Not this time. But I don't want to face the doctor alone. I still haven't forgiven the staff for giving him the wrong medication and making him temporarily pain-free."

"And energetic with no need for sleep." Jack reminded her.

"Can you come with us?"

"Sure." Jack stood up from his desk. "Luna's hearing's been postponed again. Someone in sanitation wants to file a complaint over loud noise coming from the room next door. Bertie in the aviary thinks someone's being teaching his birds to say dirty words, and someone stole a pair of undies from the laundry. It's not exactly like I'm in the midst of a dire law enforcement emergency."

* * *

He's doing fantastic. Except, I'm a little concerned about his bones."

"His bones? What's wrong with his bones? His bones are perfect," Elizabeth defensively told the doctor as she began dressing her squirmy boy.

The doctor, wearing a white coat with the ship's name embroidered on the upper left pocket, put away a reflex hammer and came back to the small boy.

"If you remember from your prior space trips, the lack of real gravity can make your spine stretch -or rather seem to elongate - as it no longer carries its own weight. With your son's bones still growing, I want to make sure that his entire musculoskeletal system isn't adversely affected without full gravity. Remember, he's the youngest child ever on a long-term space voyage. We don't have any statistics to as to what happens to an infant's body."

"What do you recommend?" Jack asked with a tinge of concern evident in his voice.

"These." The doctor opened a drawer and pulled out several small cloth bands which he turned over to Elizabeth. "I had these made earlier this week. They're weighted."

Elizabeth lightly tossed the objects in her palms and then handed them to Jack with a questioning look.

There were four of them; one for each limb. Each one sized to fit around an infant's chubby but still small wrists and ankles.

"There're not too heavy," Jack noted as he considered the weighted materials. "But you really think they're necessary?"

"I think so," the doctor replied. "They'll help with muscle mass and hopefully with normal bone growth. I'd like him to wear them for the remainder of the flight."

* * *

Two days later, Elizabeth thought that there was no way that the weight-filled fabrics would help with muscle mass or bone growth.

The only thing that they did was help with infant defiance and her son's wry sense of humor. He seemed to take pleasure in pulling apart the Velcro fastenings and throwing the objects to the floor whenever Elizabeth showed the slightest interest in them. Or whenever her back was turned. Or whenever she told him to leave them alone.

After bending down and picking up one from the floor, she lay on her belly and reached under the berth as she looked around for another missing bracelet.

"Listen little one, you need to stop losing these things."

Her son looked at her like she was only mildly interesting, and then crawled across the floor to look at the light sensors which were part of the automated door system. Elizabeth had deactivated them for a few days but then, tired of having to manually slide open the door every time she wanted to leave the room, she had turned them back on, but had had the maintenance staff move them higher up the wall- hopefully out of her son's reach.

Acorn was now wearing just a single bracelet which he twisted around to examine. He reminded Elizabeth of a woman at a "Tiffany and Company" who had just put on an expensive gold and diamond bracelet; examining it to determine if it was worthy of keeping on.

Elizabeth tossed the two weights she had found onto a lower berth, and then scooped up her son as the chimes signifying the dinner hour came over the intercom.

Within seconds the door to the bathroom opened and two young girls came in.

"Girls, you know you're not supposed to come in that way," Elizabeth gently reprimanded the twins. It had been a rule from day one on the transporter, but more often than not the twins used the short-cut of going through the bathroom rather than the standard front door to the main corridor when they wanted to visit Elizabeth.

"It's dinner time. Our mom and dad are both busy. Can we go with you?"

"Sure," Elizabeth replied with a friendly smile. "Officer Thornton is busy working."

"Is he making people mad again?" Susie questioned.

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What do you mean? Who did he make mad?"

Susie shrugged. "Some man."

"Who? What man?"

"I dunno know. We heard some man say a bad word because he didn't like Officer Thornton looking through his stuff."

"That was days ago," Elizabeth said with a reassuring smile.

Jack had kept the purpose for his search a secret from the other passengers and crew. Instead of telling them that he was looking for smuggled ears of corn, he had announced a Health and Welfare Inspection, which was an inconvenience but not unheard on a transporter, naval ship, or military barracks. As far as the transporter's occupants knew, Jack was merely looking for banned substances, or work spaces and living quarters which were unkept and cluttered. As he had explained to Elizabeth, he didn't want to tip off anyone and have them move the smuggled corn. Unfortunately, he hadn't found anything of value for his investigation.

"He needed to search the ship. I'm sure no one's mad at him anymore. Some people just didn't like him doing his job. But I'm sure it's fine," Elizabeth remarked.

"What's home seaside mean?" Joyce asked as the four of them made their way down the corridor towards the cafeteria.

"Home seaside? You mean a seaside home?" Elizabeth asked. She scanned her bracelet for the elevator to arrive. "Like a beach house?"

Joyce shook her head. "Not seaside home. Home seaside. That's what the man who was mad at Officer Thornton said."

"I'm not sure," Elizabeth said with a smile. "Maybe he meant he would like to be in a home by the seaside instead of on this ship traveling through space. I'd like that. Wouldn't you? A nice house on a sandy beach with big waves to play in."

"I get to push the button!" Susie piped up as the door to the elevator slid open and they entered the small space.

"Darn it, Acorn must have dropped a weight. Hold the elevator and I'll be right back," Elizabeth told the girls when she noticed that her son now longer had any of the doctor-prescribed cloth wraps on his limps.

"It wasn't home seaside," Susie, holding the elevator open button while Elizabeth hurried back down the corridor to pick up the discarded weight bracelet, told her sister, as if she was smarter than her twin. "It was _home aside_."

"What's the difference?"

Susie shrugged. "I don't know. But it didn't sound like a place to live. It sounded like something you do."

"Let's not tell Mrs. Thornton. She might think we're calling her stupid 'cuz she doesn't know what it means. And she won't like it that someone was really mad at Officer Thornton. I hope they have ice cream for dessert tonight."

"Do you think we can have two scoops if mom and dad don't show up for a while?"

Elizabeth hastily jumped back into the elevator. Juggling her son in one hand, she tried to put his bracelet back on. "Got it," she exclaimed happily. "Everyone ready for dinner?"

"We're ready for dessert," the two girls giggled simultaneously.

 **Up Next: Chapter 92**

Dear Readers: Just a few chapters ago, I mentioned how Elizabeth, while jogging on the treadmill, was pretty sure that she resembled the hunchback of Notre Dame running from the French police. And now, this week, we have Notre Dame on fire. I was lucky enough to visit there many years ago. Thankfully, it can be repaired. To my French readers, I'm thinking of you.

P.S. Thanks for all your reviews!


	92. Chapter 92- corn

**CHAPTER 92 - CORN**

The cafeteria was busier than usual.

Elizabeth suspected it was because it had been announced that they were serving vegetable lasagna, which was one of the better meals. Those passengers arriving too late risked missing out and getting stuck with baked potato patties which tended to be the boring second choice for most meals.

As soon as they got through the cafeteria line with their trays of food, the twin girls ran off to eat with their friends.

Elizabeth was wiping oatmeal mixed with applesauce from Acorn's hands as she alternated feeding him a spoonful of the mushed-up food with giving herself a forkful of lasagna, when Jack approached with a tray.

He set the tray on the table and pulled out a chair next to Elizabeth.

"Geez, what happened to you?" one of the diners asked when he saw Jack's swollen eye.

Elizabeth's head jerked up and she quickly ran her own eyes over Jack. She had to twist her body to see what the man had seen on Jack's left side of his face.

"A little fight in the hearing room," Jack replied as everyone at the table stared at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jack shrugged off Elizabeth's concern and sat down. "I took an elbow to the face when I tried to intervene."

"In what?!"

"There was that hearing that Luna wanted because she refused to accept responsibility for her staff putting food down the drain and into the water pipes. The First Officer, Captain, and five crew members were there. Tight space. Hot tempers."

Jack took a sip from his water bottle and then continued. "Luna challenged the Captain, and insisted that without physical evidence, there was no case against her. She demanded to see the food which was supposedly put down the drain. Of course, it was cleaned up the night of the first water pipe explosion and put into the compost bins. So, we all trekked down to the composting station but it was impossible to find remnants of the food from the night. She knew it would be. It's been too long and too much has been added. The Captain was furious. Blamed me."

"You? How is it your fault?"

"He told me I should have kept the evidence. How the heck was I supposed to know he'd want to press charges for illegal food dumping down a drain," Jack said with a roll of his eyes. It was clear that he thought the Captain was being too intense with the entire situation.

"Who the heck would have thought to keep a few food scraps exploding out of water pipe burst," he added as the diners, curious to hear more drama, had all paused eating to listen to him.

"They didn't teach you that at the Academy?" Roger, one of Jack's racquetball friends, asked with a chuckle.

"I must have missed that class. Somewhere between black marketing and drug enforcement," Jack replied humorously.

"What happened? With the eye?" Elizabeth motioned towards Jack's injured face.

"We went back to the hearing room. Luna insisted that her staff disposes of food properly. All her staff agreed. The First Officer insisted there were food scraps. Luna said that if the First Officer couldn't produce the food scraps, she would not accept responsibility. Honestly, I think there's some hidden sexual tension between those two."

"They used to be an item," Kiera, a short brunette crew member from the engine room, piped up. She set down her fork and whispered conspiratorially. "On the last flight. They were hot and heavy for a while."

"That explains the dirty looks he kept giving her and her huffy responses. It also explains why she got in his face and said that if he knew her at all, he'd know she'd never violate the rules. And his response that that was why everyone called her uptight Luna."

Jack took another sip of water. and then continued. "He moved past her, accidentally – possibly intentionally- bumped into her, she shoved back. The Purser put his hands on her, she pushed the Purser, and well, you get the picture."

"Everything end okay? Other than your face," Paulette, who was an engineer, asked.

"Depends on how you look at it. Luna got off on the food waste violation, but now, she and four others have assault and disturbing the peace charges against them."

Roger shook his head and chuckled. "All that over some left-over eggs and hash or whatever."

Jack smiled. "It was actually just some left-over kernels of corn, and apparently, still unresolved feelings about a bad break-up."

"Can you imagine dating Luna?" one of the men asked. "I mean she's gorgeous and all, but really particular. She probably interrupts making out to fold her clothes as the guy takes them off."

The diners chuckled, and returned their attention to their meals.

* * *

"Elizabeth, did you hear me?"

"What? What did you say?" Interrupted in her thoughts, she looked curiously at Jack.

"I asked if I could have the rest of your peas? You're not eating them."

"Yeah, sure." Elizabeth pushed her plate over to Jack.

Without saying anything more, she began looking at everyone's plates. A pensive look on her face.

"Corn," she declared. She looked at her plate as if she had just discovered the solution to all the world's problems rather than simply said the name of a vegetable.

"Actually, they're peas," a puzzled Jack replied. "Green is peas. Yellow is corn. Just how long have you been gone from Earth?"

"Corn," she repeated. "We haven't had corn. We haven't HAD CORN!"

The occupants of the table looked at her and then at Jack, wondering what they were missing in the conversation, but Jack was just as confused.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"We've never had corn," she repeatedly excitedly. "We've had peas and carrots and green beans and beets, but we've never had corn! Not on the transporter."

"Yes, we have."

"No. No, haven't," she said with confidence. "Can any of you remember a single meal where we had corn?"

"Yeah," Kiera said with a motion to Jack. "The night of the first pipe burst down on the lower level. Like Jack just said. They found corn in the pipe. That's what Luna's on trial for. We must have had it that night."

"It wasn't a trial," Jack corrected. "Just a hearing for nonjudicial punishment."

"But did you actually eat corn that night? Did any of you actually ever eat corn on this ship?" Elizabeth looked questioningly around the table. "And Luna said she never put food down the kitchen drain! Because she didn't! Because we didn't have corn!"

"She's got a point. I don't remember ever seeing corn served on this transporter."

"What about those kernels we found in our room? That fell out of my tee-shirt after the second water pipe explosion," Jack reminded her. "It must have been served that night." His voice trailed off as he considered whether he had actually eaten corn.

"Yeah, that was quite a night," Paulette noted. "What a mess. There was food everywhere. Tables overturned. Water pushing stuff around. People used their shirts to sop up the water and plug the hole."

"Did any of us actually _eat_ corn that night?" Elizabeth asked again.

"I don't remember," Roger answered, while Paulette, Kiera, and the other couple at the table shook their heads in the negative.

"That's it, Jack!" Elizabeth gasped in awe as she looked towards the ceiling. "That's it!"

While the other diners, bewildered by what was going on, agreed to watch Baby Thornton, Elizabeth grabbed Jack's hand and they hurried to the kitchen.

* * *

It took less than five minutes in the kitchen to prove that Elizabeth was right. Corn had never been served on the transporter.

The kitchen staff had a schedule based on shelf life. Fresh fruits and vegetables were used the first few weeks of the flight, then root vegetables, then frozen foods, and finally canned products.

Canned foods were saved for the last few weeks because they could last indefinitely without worry about power outages.

And corn was stored in cans.

* * *

"You figured it out," Jack repeated in proud amazement as he looked at his wife. He set down a piece of scrap metal from one of the pipes.

The couple, full of excitement, had raced from the kitchen to the ship's cargo room, where damaged pieces of metal from the exploded pipes had been stored until they could be recycled in Coal Valley.

Jack had run his hands along the smooth metal until he found what he was looking for. What no one had noticed before. The left-over residue of adhesive.

"The corn was being smuggled to Coal Valley in the water pipes. Feel this." He held out the metal to Elizabeth. "The corn must have been attached to the pipe. But it came loose and was pushed about. It came spewing out when the water pipes burst. The first time, we assumed it was food down a drain, and the second time, in the cafeteria, we just assumed it was the dinner meal thrown about in the chaos."

Elizabeth, felt the stickiness on the otherwise even metal, and then bounced on her heels. A large grin covered her face.

The happily stunned couple stared at each other, until Jack leaned forward and pressed his lips onto hers.

"God, I love being married to you."

* * *

The mystery of how the corn was getting smuggled into Coal Valley was solved.

Unfortunately, proving the responsible parties wasn't as easy.

Three days after the revelation that the corn sample was smuggled inside a water pipe, a frustrated Jack explained to Elizabeth that there was not enough evidence to bring charges.

He had notified Coal Valley and Earth – by satellite relay of Morse code messages – which was faster than hologram messages - in an effort to find sufficient evidence against whomever had orchestrated the scheme.

He had also spent hours interviewing passengers and crew and had hours to go. Every thirty minutes or so, an announcement came over the intercom instructing another ship occupant to report to the security office.

* * *

The Thornton quarters were quiet except for the faint hum of the air circulating through the vents.

Aaron, wearing a dry diaper and a soft warm sleeping outfit, was sleeping on his back in his berth with the railing to keep him inside in case he woke up and decided to escape the confines of his allotted space. He slept like a baby. Sweet and without a care.

Elizabeth had checked on him once more before she had turned off the light. She loved how he looked when his eyes were closed and he was peacefully in a deep sleep.

Elizabeth was in her own berth. Sound asleep.

She and Jack has used up more than their allotted protection when they had confined themselves to their room for three days, and she didn't anticipate any romance tonight. Not only were they trying to space out their intimate moments on the transporter, but she was too exhausted for romance. With Jack involved in the investigation, she was kept busy juggling Aaron, teaching, preparing for her upcoming job in Coal Valley, and trying to exercise in the fitness center.

When Jack told her that he would be working late and to go to bed without him, she hadn't argued.

Now, with Jack in his office and Aaron asleep just a short distance away, a sleeping Elizabeth's eyes moved in a rapid motion under her closed lids as her brain and body energized.

Her mind was dreaming of corn. She had been lost in a giant corn maze when she had turned a corner and suddenly found Julie in her and Jack's house on Mon Amour street back on Earth. Only instead of a cozy house made of brick and wood, it was made of corn stalks and hundreds of ears of corn.

Julie, wearing a gorgeous pair of silver high-heels, was leaning out a window pulling tassels off of the house.

"Stop pulling my house apart, Julie," Elizabeth demanded, but Julie just continued to pull on the silky hairs at the corn tops, and entire parts of the house fell to the ground.

Elizabeth, wearing shorts, a wet tee-shirt, and brown cowboy boots, hurriedly began picking up the ears and trying to put her house back together, but none of the pieces seemed to fit correctly.

Long blond-colored hairs became tangled in her fingers. Or else they were so silky that slipped to the ground.

The husks looked perfect but when she pulled off the green strips from one of them, the yellow corn ear was absurdly tiny.

Elizabeth tried another, but once again the ear was too tiny and wouldn't fit back into her house wall.

Luna, the perfectionist from the ship's kitchen staff, was now pulling apart the house. Elizabeth glanced at the woman, her long blond braids which fell almost to her waist, were made of the soft silky hair of an ear of corn.

Elizabeth's own hair was a drab boring, somewhat rustic looking quality

Elizabeth looked to the sky which had quickly turned from beautiful blue to dark grey as rain clouds suddenly sent a torrent of water down onto her and her roofless house of shoes and corn.

She hurriedly tried once more to rebuild a wall of corn while Julie complained in the background that the ears had to be perfect. That the man needed perfect ears.

Two squirrels sat on the roof and began eating her house.

One spat out a kernel, which rolled down the roof as an acorn.

"Not sweet enough," Julie noted. "And I can't find a good man. There's no one decent in Coal Valley. Maybe on the next transporter."

All the words filtered through Elizabeth's brain but nothing made sense. Her dream was becoming stranger and stranger, as all dreams seem to do.

"Stop it!" Elizabeth yelled as her house came tumbling down.

At the same time, the door to the corn maze opened up and a steam of sunlight came through.

* * *

The sliding door and the momentary light from the hallway had brought an abrupt end to Elizabeth's dream, but not the revelation.

She awoke with a start when the door to the cabin slid closed.

 _That's it! The evidence Jack needs!_ She realized with a start as she lay on mattress.

Her mind, now wide awake, went over everything she knew. Her eyes got wide with realization.

 _The hologram messages that I got by mistake! From that man!_

The room's faint night-light allowed her to see the shadow of a figure move quietly towards her desk. The stealth movement was an effort not to wake her, but she was already awake.

"Jack" she hissed excitedly as she sat upright in her berth. "I figured it out!"

She was so excited she didn't wait for him to reply but continued in a rapid hushed voice as she tried not to wake Aaron.

"It's on my laptop! The evidence is on my laptop! It proves the plot to substitute the corn! It was in code!"

She watched as the figure was already picking up her computer and carrying it over towards her. "I thought it was women he was talking about, but it wasn't. It was corn! Sweet perfect ears of corn!"

Her delight was evident in her voice. "Hand it to me. I'll pull up the holograms," she said with a nod towards the laptop. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner! It's been there all along in the –"

The aim was good. Even in the darkness.

The two-pound electronic device was surprisingly destructive when swung by a strong arm.

When the laptop computer smashed against Elizabeth's jaw, the effect was so quick that she didn't even feel pain.

Her neck violently flung to the side, putting torque on her spinal column and shocking her nerve.

Rendering her almost instantaneously unconscious.

She never had the chance to finish her sentence.

The laptop forcefully hit her again but she was too far gone to feel the pain as it ruptured the small blood vessels in her face.

Instead she slumped sideways, her upper body hanging limply over the mattress.

 **Up Next: Chapter 93 Code Emegency**


	93. Chapter 93

**CHAPTER 93**

Approaching the cabin door, Jack thought that he heard the muffled sound of his son crying.

It was unusual because Elizabeth never let the baby cry. She always slept almost half-awake. Ready to feed her son the moment the sound of him babbling or sucking on his fist filtered through the night air to her ears, or simply to cuddle with him if he had awoken and missed her touch. She did it by habit, by nature, without missing a beat. She could sleep soundly until Aaron made the slightest noise and then she would be at his small soft side.

It seemed that for once, a sleeping Elizabeth had missed the noise.

When the door slid open, Jack immediately went to Aaron who was wailing from his berth, and scooped him up in his arms.

"Shhhh. It's okay. Daddy's here. Shhh. It's okay."

Jack's voice was soft and soothing as he gently bounced the small tear-stained boy in his arms.

"Why the tears? There's no reason to cry."

Aaron's cries stopped now that he was being held by Jack, and he snuggled against his father's chest while gripping his baby blanket in one tiny fist.

"Your mommy must be so tired she's sleeping right through your cries," Jack said quietly to his son in the darkness. "Let's let her sleep."

He bent down and slowly lowered Aaron towards the berth with the side rail, but the little boy's back hadn't even touched the mattress when he started to whimper. His lips quivering as he thought he was going to be ignored again.

Quickly reversing course and bringing the boy to his chest again, Jack rubbed a hand along his back.

"Are you hungry? Is that why you're crying?" he whispered.

For a split second, Jack thought about putting Aaron against one of Elizabeth's breasts. Knowing that even when she was half-asleep, she would be able to nurse the boy, but he decided against it.

Even though he had just come back to the quarters, he wasn't so weary that he would rouse a tired Elizabeth and unload a hungry son onto her. Now that Aaron could eat some solid food – more mushed than solid but something other than milk - Jack could no longer avoid parental meal-time duties, no matter how late at night it was.

"How about we go down the hall and get you some apple sauce with oatmeal?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Jack reasoned that if he took Aaron to the Cafeteria, which was still open as it served the night-shift workers, he could fill the baby's stomach and be back to his own bed within thirty minutes.

"Late night food run," he conspiratorially whispered to Aaron. "You'll do a lot of these when you're in college."

"Of course, those will be for beer and pizza but you'll learn about that later," he added as they moved the few steps across the room. He continued to keep his voice hushed so Elizabeth could sleep.

The door slid open, allowing light into the room but Jack's back was already to the berths.

Jack was stepping over the door's threshold and into the hallway, when Aaron stretched his upper body to look around his father's torso. He squirmed about as if desperately needing something.

The little boy sadly whimpered and reached down towards the floor of the quarters with one of his small arms.

Jack, wondering what held his son's interest so intently, paused before the door could slide closed and looked over his shoulder.

The boy's blanket was lying on the floor in a heap.

"Got to keep a hold of that thing, little one," he quietly instructed his son.

Securely holding Aaron on his side, Jack moved a few steps into the room and crouched down. Picking up the blanket with one hand, he glanced at Elizabeth's berth to make sure he hadn't disturbed her.

He was grateful to see that she hadn't moved. Surprised, but grateful, that he hadn't interrupted a good night's sleep.

With the hall light illuminating the area behind him and the cabin's small night-light too dim to see much more than shapes, Jack assumed that the object hanging over the edge of Elizabeth's berth was a pillow.

For some reason, it seemed off. That she'd have a pillow draped over the bed. As if she had restlessly thrown it away from her, and it hadn't quite made it off the mattress. It wasn't like her.

Hesitating for a moment, he stayed in the room and allowed the door to close behind him.

His eyes became accustomed to the dimness and he stared at Elizabeth's berth. Trying to decipher what he was seeing.

He squinted as he slowly moved towards the berth. His eyes widened when he realized he wasn't looking at a pillow bent over the side of the mattress.

Quickly setting Aaron down, Jack ignored the boy's renewed fussing.

What scared Jack the most was the combination of the odd placement of Elizabeth's body and that she hadn't woken up despite Aaron's earlier crying or Jack moving about the room and whispering.

The baby's tiny whimpers were soon drowned out by the new sound.

EMERGENCY!

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.

PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

EMERGENCY!

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.

PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

The noise blared from the intercom when Jack slammed his hand on the small red button.

UP NEXT: CHAPTER 94


	94. Chapter 94-Doctor Doctor

To the reader who said she can't sleep at night due to the last few chapters, is it wrong for that to make me smile? 😊 I can't sleep some night's either because I keep coming up with kooky story-lines for this couple.

 **CHAPTER 94 DOCTOR DOCTOR**

"Any ideas?"

Jack looked to the doctor and hoped for a positive answer as to why his wife hadn't woken up yet.

Elizabeth had been brought to the infirmary and was lying in one of its beds.

When Jack had slammed his hand against the red emergency button in their quarters, the intercom's announcement had quickly brought the medical staff, as well as the Thornton's suite-mates and the people in neighboring rooms.

Linda from next door had taken the crying baby and promised Jack that she'd look after him while Jack had hurriedly followed the gurney to the infirmary.

Elizabeth had now been evaluated by the doctor, two medics, and a worried Jack who had hovered nearby, but so far there was no answer as to why she was unconscious.

The doctor watched Elizabeth's pupils constrict as he shined his small but bright light at them again. Her lids closed when he removed his fingers. "I can't find any obvious wounds, other than some discoloration on her face, which is getting worse. Slight swelling. And you say you found her in her berth?"

Jack nodded.

"It's possible that she fell and then crawled into her berth," Ensign Sooner, suggested. "It happens more than you think. People get confused in their sleep or when they first wake up and forget they're on a top bunk."

"She was in a lower bunk when I found her," Jack answered Ensign Sooner. "But you're right. She could have fallen. Maybe she heard Acorn crying and she jumped down to get him, fell, and . . . . was dazed so she crawled into a lower berth," he added somewhat unconvincingly. "Although, why would she be on the top bunk in the first place? If I'm not in the room, she usually takes the bottom bunk so she can be close to him."

"Maybe she was working - you know, typing up school work or whatever she does- grading papers, and she didn't want to bother him so she was on the top bunk and in a hurry to get to him, she fell down," the medic offered.

"The lights were off. And she was tired. She wouldn't have been working. Did you check for poisons?" Jack questioned. He hadn't forgotten Elizabeth's first transporter's voyage when she had bitten into a poisoned apple.

"I did. Just as you asked. Nothing there," the doctor replied.

"Virus? Bacterial infection?"

"Not likely on a ship," the doctor shook his head. "Everyone is cleared before coming on-board. But I ran the labs anyway."

He looked at the screen on his computer. "All her numbers look good. Her sodium level was a little low. Nothing to worry about. She might have been dehydrated. She's still nursing your son, so she needs to take in enough herself. Has she been eating okay?"

"Need to stop eating," Elizabeth murmured causing everyone to abruptly turn to stare at her first words.

Her head hurt, her jaw hurt, and her mind was muddled between her dream of people and squirrels eating her house of corn and the reality of being hit by her laptop, but she was starting to become aware that there were people standing close by.

"Elizabeth. Can you hear me?" Jack asked as he moved to her bedside. "It's me, Jack. You're in the infirmary."

"Stop eating," Elizabeth mumbled again.

"She's not anorexic, is she?" Cassie piped up, which earned her a scowl from Jack.

"No, she's not anorexic," he replied in disgust.

The young woman nevertheless continued with her medical assessment. "If she hasn't been eating, it would make her weak and explain why she fell."

"We don't know that she fell," Jack retorted. "We don't know what happened to her."

"Fell down," Elizabeth replied as she thought about the house in her dream falling down and Julie's irresponsible care. She wanted to tell Jack about the man who hit her, but her dream was getting in the way.

"That's our answer then," the doctor noted with a satisfied look. "She fell down and hit her head. Bruised the side of her face. Could just have been an accident. Maybe she tripped over something. The rooms can be small and cluttered."

"It wasn't cluttered," Jack countered as he remembered the scene when he had found her.

"Well, she could have been dehydrated. If she hadn't been drinking enough water. Dehydration can make a person light-headed."

"Here's some water," Cassie offered as she quickly handed a small cup to the doctor.

"NO," Elizabeth said irritably when she heard the words. She needed to tell Jack about . . .about . . . about something. But what? It had just been there. On the tip of her tongue, but she was losing it.

As she lay with her head on the pillow, she was now just confused as to what she needed to tell him. Her dream? Maybe she needed to tell him about her dream and the squirrels eating the house. That didn't seem quite right.

"Eat a house," she muttered anyway.

"She means horse," Ensign Sooner said knowingly. He was happy to be of assistance after the last fiasco when he had given away her condoms to be melted into an infant's teether. "The saying is 'I'm so hungry I could eat a _horse'_. She's probably just a bit confused or having trouble talking. And obviously hungry."

 _No, you idiot. I mean house. My house of corn is getting eaten_ , Elizabeth thought irritably.

 _Oh, now things are all getting jumbled,_ she fretted.

 _That's not what I want to say_. _That was just the dream part. I need to tell Jack what happened when I woke up. The shadowy figure. Someone hitting me._

She so desperately wanted to talk to Jack, but while her mind could now comprehend the situation, her mouth seemed to be working at an incredible slow speed and was limited in what it was willing to do. She also had a splitting headache.

The doctor looked at Elizabeth, and then frowning, he turned his attention to Jack.

"Why is she hungry? When was the last time she ate?"

"I'm not sure. I've been at work."

"Did you know that she had an eating disorder? Is this related to the earlier pregnancy weight gain? Many women find it difficult to lose weight while breast-feeding. She shouldn't be concerned about her weight."

"She's not anorexic. She eats just fine," Jack answered irritably.

"I haven't seen her in the cafeteria much. She missed a bunch of days," Ensign Sooner offered up.

"That's because she was upset about people seeing her body," Jack said dismissively. He moved to pick up on of Elizabeth's hands and held it between his.

"That's a sure sign," Cassie noted knowingly to the doctor. She felt a bit as if she was back in medical training and this was an examination which she was acing. "People with eating disorders don't like others looking at their bodies."

"We read about that. You're right, Cassie. Good job," an impressed Ensign Sooner remarked. He had always liked Cassie but suddenly looked at her with new appreciation. He hoped she was still single.

"She doesn't have an eating disorder!" Jack erupted as he lost his patience. "People had seen her naked body and she was embarrassed!"

"Because she's still got some of the baby weight?" Cassie asked.

Jack's voice raised even higher in exasperation. "Something happened to her! Figure it out!"

Lowering his voice, he focused on Elizabeth, who was moving her head slowly. "Hey, dandelion. Can you hear me? I'm worried about you."

"Corn," a weak Elizabeth managed to say. She still hadn't managed to open her eyes but she was grateful that her brain and words were now in sync. She knew corn was important. The only problem was that the word was slurred due to her injured jaw.

"Porn? Did she say porn?" the startled doctor questioned. "Because that is definitely not something appropriate, Officer Thornton. And honestly, I have no idea what porn has to do with her falling down. In fact, I'd prefer not to imagine. Were you in the room with her? I thought that you said you found her alone in her berth. Why was she alone with porn? Oh, never mind, I don't want to know."

The man gave Jack a look of disgust.

Cassie and Ensign Sooner gave each other knowing looks. "Remember the condom thing?" "Sure do," they said in hushed voices to each other. "She's anorexic and into porn."

"Corn!" Jack said irritably. "She said _corn_ and she's not anorexic!"

"Sounded like porn to me," Ensign Sooner muttered.

Cassie nodded in agreement and lowered her voice as she spoke to her fellow medic. "Didn't she used to be into S and M? When she was on a transporter a few years back?"

The medic shrugged. "I heard that it was a magic show, but who knows?" he whispered back.

"Corn," Elizabeth reiterated from her position on her bed.

"That's right. Corn. What do you want to tell me?" Jack asked.

"If she's got an eating disorder, maybe all she'll eat is corn," Cassie said to the doctor. "Should I go get some? I can go to the kitchen and get some. She seems kind of fixated."

"I'm not sure if she wants corn or porn or both," the doctor shook his head. "And a diet of corn alone is not healthy. We'll have to check her weight again. I want to make sure she's eating enough."

A disoriented Elizabeth wondered if Aaron Daniel was okay, or if the person who had injured her over the corn hologram had injured him. She was worried that she couldn't hear the small boy babbling nearby. She needed to know if he was okay. "Acorn?" she questioned weakly.

"Now she wants to eat acorns?" a stunned and bewildered Ensign Sooner asked. "Weird. Did we learn about that, Cassie? That someone's diet can be limited to foods that sound alike? Corn and acorn. Maybe popcorn?"

Jack ignored everyone in the room except his wife. He decided that they were all idiots. Well-meaning, but idiots. At least about this.

"Acorn's fine, sweetie. He's playing with Linda, and Susie, and Joyce. They're taking good care of him."

Jack had no idea why Elizabeth had talked about a house falling down and the need to stop eating, but he knew that her choice of the word Acorn wasn't accidental. She was asking about their son.

He also knew that her choice of the word corn wasn't accidental. It was too much to be a coincidence considering the last few days. She was trying to tell him something about the corn investigation. And maybe how it related to her lying injured in an infirmary bed.

He needed to know how his law enforcement investigation had resulted in his wife being injured.

So he could keep her and Aaron safe.

"Elizabeth, what about corn?" Jack inquired intently. He leaned close so he could hear her words, but she remained silent.

She had already fallen back asleep.

 **Up next: Chapter 95. (Until then, have a Happy Passover, a Happy Easter, and a Happy Weekend).**


	95. Chapter 95 Effects

**Dear Readers: This one is for Reader M. who encouraged me to hurry up and post another chapter.**

 **CHAPTER 95 –Effect** **s**

"Someone hit you?"

"Yes, I thought it was you –"

"Why would I hit you?" Jack, who was sitting sideways with one of his hips on Elizabeth's mattress, interrupted her.

A now more alert Elizabeth had woken up again after a two-hour nap, and was sitting up in bed, leaning against three pillows.

After some gentle prodding from Jack, she had told him what she remembered from the incident hours earlier.

"No, you wouldn't," she said as she tenderly squeezed his hand.

"I thought it was you at first when you came in the room and I just saw an outline of a person. But obviously it wasn't you. The smashing of the laptop against my head gave that away. And he or she probably stole my laptop. Did you see it in our room?"

Jack shook his head. "I wasn't looking for it. It may be there. I don't know. You think it was because of the hologram messages?"

"It has to be!" Elizabeth answered and then pulled away from the doctor who had moved around Jack and was trying to listen to her heartbeat through a stethoscope.

Jack shooed the nuisance of a doctor away and encouraged Elizabeth to keep talking.

Stopping only a few times to rest the pain in her head, Elizabeth had done her best to explain what she knew.

Jack sat stunned as he listened to her recitation of the events, and her belief that the holograms which she had gotten by accident were meant for someone involved in the fraud. Coded messages to get lucrative contracts to grow food in Coal Valley.

"Go check. See if my laptop's still there. Although I'm sure it's not," Elizabeth told Jack when she finished with her explanation, and the doctor ordered her to rest some more.

* * *

Gone.

It was gone.

Jack, had left Elizabeth in the infirmary, and gone directly to their quarters. Once there, he had looked on Elizabeth's small desk, under the berths, in the thin compartments under the mattresses, and in the lockers.

Elizabeth's laptop was gone.

She had been right.

Whoever assaulted her had been after her computer.

* * *

Staring at his own computer, Jack looked up the next name on the transporter's manifest and clicked on the audio-control.

Allowing Elizabeth to rest, and now fully comprehending that she hadn't injured herself by falling but had been brutally assaulted, Jack had gone to his office and begun looking into who was responsible.

A Board-wide announcement had informed the transporter's crew and passengers that there had been an _incident_ , and that they were to fully cooperate with Jack, even if he interrupted their normal duties.

"Lieutenant Geiger, please report to the Security Office."

"Yes, sir. I'll be there in three minutes."

With nothing to go on, other than the culprit was likely someone who had an opportunity to access the water pipe, Jack had begun a systemic interview process of the transporter's occupants. Beginning with the crew first. He was up to letter "G". Six letters down. Twenty to go.

* * *

Jack sighed as the door slid closed behind Corporal Sudsen from the laundromat.

Despite her duties which kept her in the vicinity of large amounts of water and the pipes which carried that water, the woman had been of no help with the investigation. Her only help had been that she had offered to launder Aaron's diapers every day until Elizabeth felt better.

Jack looked at his watch the moment it started to beep.

The words letting him know that Elizabeth was being released from the infirmary flashed on his small wrist screen.

"C'mon, Acorn. Time to get mommy," he told his son, who was lying on a blanket in a makeshift pen made up of chair, two walls, and a box containing a large monitor.

The little boy was pensively examining a string of ordinary objects which had been turned into a baby toy of sorts.

Without their crate of baby belongings that had ended up on Mock Earth instead of the cargo hold, Jack and Elizabeth had been inventive in how to keep their son occupied. While Jack had gotten very efficient at making up games and building temporary jails, Elizabeth had made an educational toy -as she liked to call it -by gathering ordinary items and securely attaching them onto a thick cord.

Jack pulled a wooden spoon – one of the items on the cord - from his son's mouth and noticed the teeth marks. "Let's hope mommy's jaw isn't hurting so much that she's left eating apple-mush."

* * *

"This should help with your pain."

Elizabeth, dressed in jeans and a white blouse with one sleeve pushed up to her shoulder, was sitting on the edge of the infirmary bed waiting patiently as Cassie opened the medicine drawer.

"Is that the same medication you gave my son last month?" Jack asked. He was holding a squirming Aaron Daniel in his arms as they waited for Elizabeth's final check-out procedures so she could be released to their quarters.

"Yes, but it won't affect your wife in the same way. And I won't give her too much."

Cassie held out a syringe for Jack's inspection. The plastic cylinder had thin black lines running around its circumference indicating the calibration of the pale milky blue liquid it held.

"It comes fully filled but I won't give her the whole thing. Only as much as is needed based on her weight."

Jack gave the medic a warning look.

"Don't worry, Officer Thornton," Cassie replied in a friendly tone. "We weighed your wife this morning. I'm giving her only two-fifths of this syringe. "Two fifths. No more. No less. I calculated it and the doctor checked my calculations."

"I'll weigh myself again if you're worried," Elizabeth joked weakly to Jack.

"Are you sure you need it?" he questioned back as he awkwardly juggled his son who was desperately trying to get to Elizabeth.

"It's up to your wife," Cassie interjected. "But she needs to be able to eat and drink, and with that sore jaw, it might be difficult."

Elizabeth nodded and then winced from the neck pain.

"Yeah. I'll take it. Especially because that little one needs me." She motioned to her son who was stretching out both arms to be held by her.

Elizabeth wasn't sure if he missed her or her breasts, but he was beginning to act like he was preparing to launch himself from Jack's arms to get to her.

"Whatever she wants," Jack answered absently as his messenger bracelet beeped and he turned his attention to it. He still had to interview the last of the day-workers, and had requested the Captain to instruct all crew members that they were not to go off duty until they had first been to the Security office.

"He's an adorable little boy. But I can see that you have your hands full with him. He passed all the milestones at his eight-month check-up," Cassie noted pleasantly as she used a small square of cotton to wipe alcohol across Elizabeth's upper arm.

"How's teaching going?" she asked. She threw the cotton into the nearby waste bin, and the lid – sensing the motion – automatically closed over the receptacle.

"Okay. I love all the children."

"They seem like a good group. I see them all for their check-ups."

"Living on this transporter is like living in a very small town," Elizabeth said with a laugh.

"After you get back to your quarters, you should try to rest some more if you're – ohhh – ouch."

Cassie awkwardly fell onto Elizabeth's lap and then tumbled to the floor as Aaron – seizing the opportunity of a distracted Jack – hurled himself forward.

All twenty pounds of baby had landed against the medic before the boy arrived in Elizabeth's arms. She wrapped her arms around him as he began excitedly babbling in her face.

"I'm so sorry!" Elizabeth hurriedly told Cassie as she peered down at the woman.

A startled Jack looked up from his bracelet. "What happened?" he asked in bewilderment. He moved a step forward and reached out an arm to Cassie who was prone on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. No harm done."

Cassie accepted Jack's offered arm and stood up. A look of concern – or maybe guilt – came over her face. "He fell against me."

"It's okay. I caught him," Elizabeth said reassuringly when she noticed the woman's expression. "He's fine."

She kissed her son on the head. "You want your mommy back."

"I'm sorry. It's my fault," Jack apologized to Cassie who didn't reply. "I knew he wanted to get to Elizabeth. I guess I didn't realize how much."

"Men. Always throwing themselves at me," Elizabeth replied with a smile. "Are you sure you're alright, Cassie?"

"Cassie?"

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"Cassie?!" Elizabeth called after the young medic who, with a horrified look on her face, hurried from the room without a word.

Elizabeth and Jack exchanged confused looks as the door slid closed. "What was that all about?"

"I have no idea. What happened? I wasn't paying attention. Did you say something?"

"No. Nothing rude," a bewildered Elizabeth replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said emphatically. "I didn't say anything other than to ask her if she was alright."

"Did she hurt herself?"

Elizabeth shrugged in puzzlement. "She fell on me and then landed on the floor. She didn't look hurt. I didn't see a bloody nose."

They both looked at the door waiting to see if Cassie would return but the door remained closed.

"Should we leave? Are we done?" Jack questioned.

Elizabeth glanced at her arm and noticed the tiny barely-there mark from the injection. "I guess. That was so weird. What is wrong with that girl?" she added with a scrunch of her face.

"I don't know but she's not our problem. Let's go."

"Did you eat already?" Elizabeth asked. "I haven't eaten since yesterday."

The couple were almost to the door when it slid open and the doctor entered, with a meek-looking Cassie following behind him.

The doctor looked concerned whereas a skittish Cassie looked like she was about to have an anxiety attack.

"Ahem," the doctor cleared his throat. "Can you please sit down, Mrs. Thornton?" He motioned towards the berth.

Elizabeth, still holding Aaron to her chest, hesitantly went to the nearest berth and sat down on the starched white sheet.

Jack raised his eyebrows to relay to her that he was just as confused as she was.

"Show them, Cassie," the doctor ordered.

A timid Cassie reluctantly brought her hand out from behind her back, and opened her palm.

Jack and Elizabeth leaned forward and peered at the cylinder with a plunger at one end and a syringe needle at the other which was lying on Cassie's palm.

They again exchanged blank looks.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Jack asked. "It's a syringe. For a shot. So what?"

"I'm sorry!" Cassie wailed. "But he pushed me!"

Elizabeth's face pulled back in puzzlement.

"Why are you sorry. It wasn't your fault you fell. I'm confused. What does that empty- NO! Oh Noooo," she added when she realized that the cylinder was empty. "You gave me all of it?! You were supposed to give me two-fifths!"

"You gave her all of it?!"

"Your son pushed me!" the medic wailed.

* * *

The adults were temporarily quiet.

A stunned Elizabeth slapped her hand on her arm as if she could stop the flow of medication.

Jack took Aaron from her arms and was staring back and forth from his wife to Cassie, who was standing with her mouth open and her eyes glistening. At any moment the medic was going to burst into tears.

The doctor took the empty syringe from her hand and sighed in resignation.

Only little Aaron Daniel Thornton seemed nonplussed by the situation.

"So, she's going to be awake for three days?" Jack asked irritably. "Elizabeth is going to be wide awake – no sleep- for three days?"

"Based on the dosage. Yes, she might find herself more awake and alert for the next few days," the doctor replied. "But not three. I would think more like five."

"I cannot freaking believe this!" Jack's tone indicated his displeasure.

"And I won't be able to feel pain?" Elizabeth asked as she took two fingers and pinched the skin on one of her arms as a test. "I feel that", she said pensively and looked at the doctor. "How long until it takes affect? This is going to be so weird."

"The inability to feel all types of pain was unique to your son due to his small size and age. Too much dosage on adults has an entirely different effect. In addition to the alertness."

"Really not the most ideal situation," the doctor mumbled as he continued to consider the situation.

He slowly ran a hand across his mouth. "Especially given your situation. On anyone else it wouldn't really be so bad. . . But in these circumstances –" his voice trailed off as he looked at the couple and then shook his head in defeat.

"What?" Jack questioned. "What side effect? What circumstances?"

"What's so odd about me?" Elizabeth said worriedly.

"What did you do to her?"

Rather than answer either of them, the doctor turned to Cassie, and gave her a look of disgust. "Of all the patients, Lt. Greenview. Really? Did you have to do it to her?"

A trembling Cassie drew back to the corner of the room in shame.

"Do what? What's going to happen to me? Am I going to have trouble breathing? A rapid heartbeat? Cuz it's beating a bit rapidly right now," Elizabeth noted worriedly but the doctor didn't seem concerned by her announcement.

"A possible side effect that has been reported is an increased libido," the doctor answered matter-of-factly.

"What?!"

Jack's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his face, so the doctor ignored him and focused on Elizabeth.

"It can increase your libido. Your sex drive. You may find yourself wanting to be more amorous than usual with your husband. Nonstop. For the next five days."

* * *

Their quarters seemed smaller than normal to Jack. And the four berths seemed to take up too much space. Like they were taunting Jack. Reminding him that his wife may have just been injected with extra hormones, or a super ability to pick up on his pheromones. The idea scared him. The available berths scared him. His wife scared him.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine." Elizabeth replied to a skeptical Jack.

She pulled her hair back into a pony tail and secured it with a hair tie. "We're going to go for a run around the ship. I'll borrow a small cart from logistics for Aaron. It will be like a jogging stroller."

Thanks to the injection from Cassie, Elizabeth's head pain had been gone by the time she had gotten back to their quarters.

She had quickly eaten and then spent thirty minutes grading student homework and was now anxious to let off some energy. With her laptop no longer in her possession, she and Jack hoped that she wasn't in any more danger. Which meant there was no reason for her to stay cloistered in their quarters.

Jack, still worried that she had been rendered unconscious hours earlier, hadn't wanted to leave her alone at first, especially if she had to watch Aaron. But he quickly realized that she was fine. Better than fine. Which meant he could get back to investigating who had rendered her unconscious in the first place.

"Are you sure jogging is a good idea in your situation? You had a head injury."

"It's fine. Doc said that I'm good. I don't have a concussion. You heard him; the CT scan came back fine. I answered all the tests fine. I did the eye test perfectly. I'm fine. You go back to work. I know you've got some investigation to do."

Jack gave Elizabeth a quick kiss on the cheek and then nervously backed away. Like a timid mouse near a cat.

"You haven't . . . . you know? Had any side effects other than energy?"

"No," she said emphatically and with a laugh. "No other side effects. Stop worrying."

Jack had enough to worry about with finding who had assaulted his wife; he didn't really want to deal with his wife assaulting him – however amorous it might be.

In fact, the last thing he needed to worry about was having a highly aroused wife and a limited supply of protection.

"Get to work. We'll jog by your office later," she instructed.

She smiled at how silly he was being. She didn't for a second believe that the medication would affect her libido. It had been more than thirty minutes and the only noticeable effect had been the relief of head and neck pain.

Following a few seconds behind Jack down the corridor, Elizabeth watched her husband walk away.

She observed his confident stride until he turned a corner and she could no longer assess him.

 _Has his ass always been so sexy?_

 _Must be the pants he's wearing._

 _But damn, he looks sexy._

 _Really sexy._


	96. Chapter 96-Billions

**CHAPTER 96- BILLIONS OF PEOPLE BUT ONLY ONE MATTERS**

The transporter sped past another galaxy.

The blackness of space was interspersed with twinkling celestial bodies. Sometimes these shiny white and yellow sparkles were clustered together. Other times they were solitary. Like they had been ostracized from their cosmic families. Or maybe decided that they liked beaming light by themselves. Bringing light to an otherwise dark part of the world. Elizabeth wondered how many stars were out there. Billions. Like the billions of people on Earth.

She had taken the long route back to her quarters after her class so that she could look out one of the large observation windows which were on the outermost corridors. She loved looking at the world outside the transporter.

And Jack had told her to take her time getting back to the room.

She hated to admit it but Jack was tired of her amorous advances.

"It's not my fault!" she had declared when he had run away from her and locked himself in the bathroom to dress earlier that morning.

"I know. But I don't care," his muffled voice had come through the door as he had pulled a shirt on over his head.

"You can get dressed out here!"

"You are not seeing me naked. It will give you too many ideas."

"I thought you love me," she had shouted back.

"You're confusing love with lust. I love you. You lust me. So rein it in."

"Most men would love to have a wife who is so attentive," she had indignantly countered as she stood in her tee-shirt and shorts with her hands on her hips.

"Most men would have locked you up by now."

"That's not fair! This is all _your_ fault."

"My fault?"

"You shouldn't look so sexy."

"Which just proves that I am right to change out of your sight."

"You should come out here and apologize to me for teasing me by looking so good. I will maybe consider forgiving you if you ask nicely."

"I'm waiting," Elizabeth had declared when Jack didn't take her up on her suggestion that he come out and apologize.

"Jack, are you going to answer me?"

"Jack?"

"Get out here and face me like a man!"

Elizabeth had pounded on the door and leaned one side of her head against it. All she heard was the sound of water running in the sink.

"Coward!"

"Jack? Are you in there?"

The bathroom door had finally slid open and revealed an unshaven man holding a toothbrush who had sleepily stared at her as if she was a nagging slightly irrational woman.

"Oh!" a startled Elizabeth had declared when she saw her suite mate, Keith. "Jack was just in there."

"Yeah, he left through our room."

* * *

Earth was long gone from view. It hadn't been visible for weeks, and she wouldn't see it again for almost two years. Elizabeth missed Earth. With its trees and rivers. Its mountains and valleys. She missed rainbows and snowstorms. She even missed the crowds of people in the cities.

Aaron, resting against her hip with a lock of her hair in his tight grip, didn't seem interested in her talk of the wonders of space as she pointed out various lights, so after a few minutes, Elizabeth turned away from the window and continued down the corridor.

In the two days since her assault and release from the clinic, she and Jack hadn't gotten any closer to finding out who had stolen her laptop.

Jack had eventually found her destroyed device shoved behind some pallets of laboratory equipment in the cargo hold.

He reasoned that whomever had stolen it had been unable to get past Elizabeth's password. Angry and intent on erasing the holograms, the thief had smashed the pink device until the screen was in three pieces and several letters from the keyboard would never pop up again.

The Quartermasters had issued Elizabeth another computer, standard in size and boring it its black color. The cost would be deducted from her paycheck.

In between helping care for Aaron, meal times, and scurrying away from Elizabeth as much as possible - except for three occasions where he couldn't resist making love, Jack had interviewed everyone on the transporter and had performed another "Health and Welfare Inspection" which had raised the suspicions of the transporter's occupants who were wondering the reasons for the searches, why Elizabeth had been hospitalized, and what had caused Elizabeth and Jack to get so excited over corn and water pipes.

"How was class?" Jack asked her as Elizabeth and Aaron walked into their room.

"Good. The kids want me to ask the Captain to turn off artificial gravity for a few minutes so they can do experiments."

"I have a feeling he'll say no," Jack said with a chuckle.

"You're right," she agreed with a smile. "But I told the students that I would ask anyway. And I gave your son a mini-lecture on space and galaxies and even black holes, but he was more interested in tugging on my hair."

"You got nice hair," Jack noted with a smile.

When Elizabeth smiled back, Jack gave her a stern look in return. "That was a simple compliment. Not an invitation to attack me."

"I wasn't going to attack you. Not right now," she retorted.

"Good."

"Unless you want me to," she ventured hopefully.

"No. I do not want you to. I've got work to do."

"Then why'd you come back here? To parade in front of me?"

"I am not parading in front of you. I am sitting in a chair looking at my computer. I've got the XO using my office to look over the security cameras again. The figure was too dark to see anything coming in and out of our room, but I'm having him check other areas to see if there's a better view I missed."

"I can have the twins babysit Acorn for a bit," Elizabeth offered suggestively.

"I can go sit in the hallway for a bit," Jack responded.

"You're no fun."

"I've been plenty fun. I was fun last night. Twice. And the day before that. I'm done with fun for a while."

Elizabeth scowled but relented. It was clear to her that Jack was going to be a stubborn prude.

"Prude," she shot back.

"Vamp," he retorted.

She sat on the floor between their berths and set Aaron down to play between her legs which she spread open in a large V pattern. The room was so small that with her back against one berth, her feet practically touched the one across from her.

"Any luck?" she asked.

"Not yet. I've been communicating with NADF but it's not exactly high on their priority list. Apparently, there are some major forest fires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, a cyberthief on the loose somewhere in North America, and a drug cartel about to get taken down. Smuggled and fraudulent corn for a distant frontier lacks a little something."

"I'm sorry. But look at the bright side."

"The bright side?"

"You have all those other fun cases to work on," she reminded him without even trying to keep a straight face.

"Ah, yes. The case of the fist-fight over Perky B. Becca. And the case of the four stolen bottles of beer. Which I suspect have something to do with each other."

"How about the case of the sexy wife who is desperately missing her husband right now?"

"How about I go back to my office and you jog around the ship a few dozen times and then take a cold shower?"

* * *

Declining Jack's suggestion that she jog away her lustful thoughts of him, Elizabeth watched Aaron happily smack his hand against paper balloons she had made, and remembered their last flight when he had been in her womb. A year ago on her last flight, she had been so desperate to have him born on Earth in a hospital surrounded by the best OBGYNs and pediatricians. All that worry, and everything had turned out perfectly. His birth on Earth had been without complication, and he had been given an Earth Citizen number like every other human. She smiled when she remembered how silly she had been to worry about that.

"Idiots. We've been idiots," Elizabeth announced suddenly.

Jack, sitting at the room's small desk in an effort to keep at least an arm's length from his wife whenever possible, looked up from his computer. "What do you mean?"

"My Earth Citizen number. That's the clue. Remember what the communications guy said. That I was probably getting the wrong hologram messages because the sender reversed some numbers or was off by one or two."

"So?"

"So, all we have to do is look at everyone's Earth Citizen numbers on the transporter and find the one that is similar to mine! One that's just a few numbers off or has something reversed!" she excitedly told him.

* * *

"How about this one? EK-09511489."

Elizabeth and Jack were each hunched over their laptops as they looked at the rosters of passengers and crews.

"Who is it?" Jack replied. "What's the name?"

"Oh, never mind. It's the Captain. My guess is that if he was the one smuggling, he would put it somewhere in his own private quarters."

Jack tacitly agreed and went back to looking at his own screen. After another thirty seconds of silence, he spoke out. "Here's one. KE 09611987. It's just two numbers off."

"And the letters are reversed. The sender would have to have reversed the letters and gotten two numbers wrong."

"He could have been doing it from memory or in a hurry. Once the sender accidentally sent it wrong the first time, he just kept sending it wrong because the number was then programmed into his mail account. He probably didn't type it out each time. Just let it auto-fill in. Incorrectly.

"And he never wondered why he wasn't getting a response?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Who knows? Maybe the sender thought that the recipient couldn't' reply. Or just blamed it on the long delay between transmission and receipt."

"Who is it?" Elizabeth questioned. "The number?"

"It's Skip Laurel from the Horticulture Greenhouse. He'd have access to the transporter before lift-off. And he'd know agriculture. But when I questioned him, he seemed pretty oblivious."

"Could be an act," Elizabeth offered.

"He'd have to be one damn good actor."

"That bad?"

"I know he's a scientist and they're all smart, but this guy is one sandwich short of a picnic. I can question him again anyway."

"Put a mark by it, but let's keeping looking."

Aaron chewed on a sock while his parents diligently scanned the manifest.

"What about this one? Three of the numbers are reversed and four are different and the letters aren't the same," Elizabeth offered.

"I take it you're getting desperate because that's really stretching it. Who is it?"

"Ensign Zyrus."

"Jolene?" Jack questioned.

"Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Joleeeeene," Elizabeth sang out melodiously. "Her beauty is beyond compare. With flaming locks of auburn hair. With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green. Joleeeeeeeene.'

Jack raised his eyebrows at Elizabeth as she finished singing. "I have no idea what you're singing about. Jolene has a short brown hair. Brown skin. And brown eyes."

"It's a song!"

Jack shook his head at his wife. "You really are strange sometime."

Undeterred, Elizabeth moved her body in rhythm to her singing as she quietly continued the lyrics. " . . . . he talks about you in his sleep. And there's nothing I can do to keep from crying when he calls your name. Jolene. Please don't take my man away. Joleeeeene."

"Can we forget the karaoke for a moment? Jolene works the night shift in the electrical unit. I'll ask Alex about her."

Elizabeth abruptly stopped singing. "Maybe Alex is the culprit."

"Alex? She's a straight-shooter. She helped me on the investigation on our first flight."

"But how well do we really know her?" Elizabeth questioned as she thought about the beautiful woman with the legs which reminded her of a gazelle.

"Pretty well," Jack replied and gave Elizabeth an odd look. "We spent four months with her before. She's smart. Trustworthy. Loyal. Why would you think she'd be involved in anything sinister?"

"Because . . .", Elizabeth paused. _Without seeming like I'm an irrational jealous wife,_ h _ow do I say because she's beautiful and I'm jealous of her when she walks around all perfect-like, and that she was helping you on the case when I had the hots for you on our first flight, and she probably has nothing to do with the assault but I still don't like her._

Elizabeth shrugged. "Because she seems little too perfect sometimes. Like maybe she's hiding something."

Jack chuckled. "She's not hiding anything. And you're not hiding your jealousy very well. But I think it's adorable."

"How adorable?" Elizabeth lips turned up into a mischievous grin and she got a twinkle in her eye.

"Not that adorable. Now concentrate on the roster, not on my body."

"I could make your body feel good."

"My body feels just fine."

"You're no fun," she grumbled but turned her attention back to her new laptop.

* * *

The next day, Elizabeth still had a hard time believing that anyone on the transporter could have harmed her. And yet, she hadn't imagined getting hit in the head. Twice. Someone obviously had swung the laptop into her skull and jaw. She and Jack just weren't any closer to discovering who. Despite the number of suspects at less than 200, everyone seemed to have an alibi or a very convincing statement that they had been asleep or at their duty station when Elizabeth had been assaulted.

As she moved to the side to allow someone to pass her in the corridor, Elizabeth tried to put the whole thing behind her. It was over. Done with. Her computer with the evidence was destroyed, the cameras didn't have a clear picture of her assailant, no one had confessed.

There was little more to be done. Perhaps they would never solve it.

Jack was back in his office.

Aaron was adorably in her arms.

Elizabeth was still energetic, lustful, and now hungry for dinner.

"You dropped something," a woman's voice called out.

Elizabeth paused and turned around. A slender woman with short brown hair was bending down to pick up Aaron's toy.

"Thank you," Elizabeth said as she retreated a few steps and reached out her hand.

The other woman was holding a cord with several attached objects, but instead of handing it to Elizabeth, she paused to consider it. Looking at the various every-day items tied tightly to the thick cord.

"It's just stuff we had handy," Elizabeth explained. She took hold of the cord.

When Jolene didn't release it, Elizabeth gave a little pull, taking the make-shift baby toy into her own hand and then shoved it into her back pocket so Aaron wouldn't drop it again. "From around the transporter. Our crate of baby stuff was accidentally sent to Mock Earth so I had to get inventive. Like an inventor. Hah hah. Like a scientist inventor."

When Jolene eyed her as if Elizabeth was a homeless woman making baby objects salvaged out of trash dumpster, a self-conscious Elizabeth gave her a friendly smile and decided to quickly change subjects. "I love your name, by the way. Jolene. With you locks of auburn hair. Please don't take my man away."

"Excuse me?" Jolene replied in confusion.

"I said please don't take my man away." Elizabeth gave a small laugh. "You know, the song. Jolene."

"Right," Jolene said hesitantly and then walked away.

Elizabeth sighed. _Geez, everyone thinks I'm weird. I cannot wait for this trip to be over. So far, I'm the woman who doesn't shave, the woman who can't do simple math and makes love too loudly, the woman who lost her son on a transporter when there was no gravity, and the woman who is either anorexic or alternatively obsessed with corn, which may be a grain or a vegetable or somehow a fruit. I am not even going to get into that discussion again with Skip Laurel from agriculture_. _And now I'm the woman who knows songs that apparently no one else has heard of._

* * *

Elizabeth continued down the hallway and stopped in front of the door with the large official identifying sign on the wall next to it.

SECURITY OFFICE. OFFICER THORNTON.

When the door slid open, Aaron smiled and reached out his arms towards Jack who was standing a few feet away.

"You ready to eat," Elizabeth asked as she transferred her son into Jack's waiting arms.

"Hi, Bob," she told the red-haired and freckled executive officer.

"HI, Elizabeth. How's your head?"

"Good. Can I steal my husband away for dinner?"

"Sure. We're not having much luck here."

* * *

The cafeteria wasn't too crowded yet, which could be because it was cauliflower casserole night. Not a top contender for best meal of the week.

Spotting the twin girls giggling at a nearby round table, Jack and Elizabeth approached them, and Jack grabbed a small high chair and carried it over with them.

"Hi girls, would you mind babysitting Aaron Daniel while Officer Thornton and I go and get our food?"

"We love baby Thornton!" Susie eagerly replied.

"Guess what, Mrs. Thornton?" Joyce asked. "We're flying by a planet tonight. Dad says it's like Venus because it has a long rotation and no little things floating around."

"No satellites. Your dad is right. Venus happens to be my favorite planet," Elizabeth announced as she settled Aaron into his seat and buckled him in.

"Reeeally? Why?"

"I like the name," Elizabeth replied with a shrug. "It's named after a Roman goddess," she explained with a friendly smile. She gave Aaron a quick kiss on the head

"We'll be back in a jiff."

"Don't think I'm not onto you," Jack hissed under his breath as they walked to the cafeteria line.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Elizabeth said in a sweet innocent voice.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Suddenly it's your favorite planet. Venus. The Roman name for Aphrodite. Goddess of love, fertility, and sex. You are not Venus and I am not some little malleable human you can turn to mush."

"Hummph," she exhaled and elbowed past him.

He followed after her and mentally asked for strength. _Dear lord, help me. I am a malleable human she can turn to mush._

* * *

"Where's Aaron Daniel?" Elizabeth asked when she and Jack returned to the table where they had left their son just minutes earlier. She set her tray, containing her utensils, a plate of cauliflower casserole, an apple, and a box of water, onto the table.

"Some lady took him."

"Some lady?"

"She said you wanted him."

Elizabeth's forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. She didn't sit down but looked around the cafeteria for some glimpse of her baby.

"Jack, do you see him?"

An unconcerned Jack, who was already in his chair, looked over his shoulder. "Nah. But he can't have gone anywhere. Probably someone wanted to get some extra cuddles. You know how some women are."

Elizabeth's mouth crinkled back and forth as she considered who had absconded with her son.

"I hope they don't take him again for a science experiment. Just because our son is the only infant on board, doesn't mean he's fair game for their experiments. Last week, I caught Bertie trying to do bird calls with him again. And yesterday, Sven wanted to put him in a maze like a lab rat and see how quickly he could find his way out."

Jack swallowed a bite of his casserole and then took a gulp of water, before turning to the twins, who were finishing their meal and pushing back their chairs. "This lady? Did you recognize her?"

"No, sir."

"And she said she was bringing Aaron to us?"

"Yes," Joyce quickly answered before she and Susie ran off to get dessert.

Elizabeth sat down and scooted her chair closer to the table. She picked up a forkful of white substance meant to be a healthy meal, but paused before putting it in her mouth.

"Maybe the girls misunderstood?" she questioned.

"They probably did. They're more concerned with soft-serve ice-cream than grown-ups. Don't worry. We're on a ship. It's not like someone can kidnap him."

* * *

Five minutes later, Elizabeth couldn't concentrate on eating. She felt restless. On-edge.

Something was off.

Every thirty seconds, she had looked around the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of her son. When passengers joined them at their table, she had asked if they had seen Aaron, but none had.

"Who would take him?" she asked Jack and then rapidly fired off more questions. "Why would she take him? Why would someone say they were taking Aaron to us because we wanted him? And where would she take him? And what is she doing with him?"

"Calm down, Elizabeth. You're just gone through the who, where, what, and why questions in less than two seconds. All you need to ask now is how."

"I'm going to go find him," she announced as she stood up. "This isn't right."

Jack had to admit that maybe Elizabeth had reason to be concerned. He looked around the room but nothing seemed out of order. Passengers and crew were carrying trays of food or sitting at their tables reluctantly eating cauliflower casserole. His son was nowhere in sight. "It does seem a little odd."

He pushed back his chair and stood up. "I'm coming with you."


	97. Chapter 97 -Bargaining Chip

**CHAPTER 97 – THE BARGAINING CHIP**

"You take one side, I'll take the other." Jack motioned with his head and then walked to the left side of the cafeteria.

As Elizabeth went from table to table asking diners if they had seen Aaron, she told herself to remain calm. Trying to convince herself that this was just like when the small boy had floated away during the lack of artificial gravity. That he was somewhere safe. Enjoying himself.

 _Jack's right. We're on a transporter_.

It wasn't as if some woman could kidnap their boy and pretend that he belonged to her. Every passenger knew that the only infant on the transporter was Aaron Daniel Thornton, son of Jack and Elizabeth Thornton.

And ignoring the fact that they were on a vehicle hurtling through space, it was a relatively safe environment.

 _He's probably being kissed and fawned over by some woman missing her grandchildren or nephews,_ she thought.

"Okay, thanks anyway. Sorry to bother your meal," Elizabeth told a group of engineers who had paused in their conversation to report that they hadn't seen Aaron.

Looking across the room she caught Jack's eye. He gave a tiny shake of his head indicating he hadn't had any luck either.

"No one has seen him," Elizabeth reported uneasily a minute later when she and Jack met in the center of the room.

"Don't worry. Obviously, he's not in the cafeteria but he might be close by."

"Should we send a board-wide message? Asking whoever stole our son to bring him back before I go ballistic?"

"Bit dramatic. Let's ask around some more. Whoever took him may have taken him to the kitchen."

"We would have seen them when we were in line," Elizabeth argued.

"Maybe she took him for a crawl in a corridor, or maybe he needed a diaper change and she took him to a bathroom."

"Without a fresh diaper?" Elizabeth raise her eyebrows.

"That's it," Jack said with a hopeful look. "She probably took him to our quarters to get a fresh diaper. Let's check there."

* * *

As they hurried down the hallway, Elizabeth complained that the passengers were becoming way too familiar with their son. It had been cute when he had become somewhat of the ship's unofficial mascot and everyone liked to tickle his toes and run a hand through his soft hair whenever they saw him, but if a passenger or crew member thought that it was okay to take him without Jack or Elizabeth's permission, familiarity had gone too far.

"You know how most everyone treats him likes he's one of theirs. They look out for him, ask about him. The lieutenant from IT asked if she could snuggle with him last week," Jack reminded Elizabeth.

"I mean, it's nice if this lady who took him wanted to change his diaper for us, but the whole thing just doesn't make sense. We were just in the cafeteria line," Elizabeth said in irritation. "Why wouldn't she tell us?"

"I don't know. Maybe she was trying to do us a favor. People know how busy we are, and you had the head injury a few days ago. She probably wanted to hold him, noticed he had a dirty diaper, and decided to change it for us."

"It's still pretty odd."

"Scientists _are_ odd. But if he's not here, we'll go to the security office and check the cameras."

"You don't see me going around taking other people's kids," she grumbled as she thought about someone nonchalantly walking off with Aaron Daniel.

Jack smiled. "You spend all day walking off with other people's kids. You have a small classroom of other people's kids. And you've taken kids to eat before when their parents aren't around. And you've taken the kids for walks around the ship on your educational tour things."

 _He has a point,_ she realized _._

* * *

Elizabeth's irritation at someone taking her son turned to bewilderment when the door to their quarters slid open.

"Did you leave his diaper bag stuff on the floor like that?" Jack asked.

The now empty bag, a clean cloth diaper, a small plastic bottle, and the silicone teether made from melted condoms lay scattered with other objects on the floor.

Elizabeth stepped over a small container of wipes, and looked around.

"Why are our beds unmade? And someone was in our lockers!" she exclaimed.

"What the hell?"

A stunned Jack picked up a pillow and tossed it back to the top of a berth. Moving to the open lockers, he scanned the items inside.

"Look around. Anything missing?" he asked over his shoulder.

"We don't have _anything_ to be missing," a dumbfounded Elizabeth replied. "Clothes, our laptops, that's about all we have. Why would someone go through our belongings?"

* * *

"Do you think this is payback? For your health and welfare inspections?" Elizabeth asked a moment later as she and Jack began picking clothes off the floor as they tried to grasp what was going on.

"I was just doing my job," Jack answered dismissively.

"But some people were upset. Really upset." Elizabeth paused when she remembered what Joyce and Susie had told her days ago in the elevator. "Homicide! Not home side! Some man was mad at you for going through his belongings. The twins saw you arguing with him! They heard him say homicide! Only, they couldn't pronounce it right and I thought it was something about a home! Maybe this is his way of getting back at you!"

Jack shook his head. "That was just one of the ensigns. He was irritated because I found some alcohol in his quarters, and had to write him up. He yelled that it wasn't like he was committing a homicide. He was a bit pissed at me, but he got over it."

"Can you pull up the security footage from the hall cameras?" Elizabeth asked hurriedly.

* * *

Rather than head to the Security Office, an impatient Elizabeth had used her computer savvy, Jack's Earth Citizen number, and Jack's password to pull up some camera footage on her laptop.

"I can only get a few minutes at a time because it's too much data to download all at once. And the pixels aren't going to be as sharp," Elizabeth explained as the keyboard making a clicking sound under her fingers. "How far should I go back?"

"What time did we go to dinner? Do it around then. I don't think this was a random ransacking."

"You think they were looking for something?"

"It's possible. It's too coincidental with your assault and the corn investigation. It also could be two people. One got Aaron and another searched our place. But let's just assume for now that it was one person. My guess is the person didn't find what they were looking for here, and then went to the cafeteria and got Aaron."

"Here," Elizabeth announced and the couple stared at the small screen. Waiting for the images to finish downloading.

"Who is that?" a puzzled Jack asked as he squinted his eyes and leaned closer.

"She's either got short hair or it's tucked up under her ball-cap. Who do we know with short hair? And someone that size?

The couple watched as the figure picked up the diaper bag from Elizabeth's desk, rummaged through it, and then dumped its contents onto the floor. She next moved to the lockers, but apparently didn't find what she was looking for in the storage units.

Elizabeth gasped. "It's Jolene!"

"Are you sure?" Jack studied the image.

"Yes! I think. No wonder the twins didn't recognize her. She works the night shift. They wouldn't know her. You interviewed her. What did she say?"

"Nothing. She seemed normal. Have you had any conversations with her? Seen her acting odd? Heard anyone talk about her?"

"I don't even know her. She's a night-shift worker," Elizabeth repeated. "I ran into her in the corridor earlier but that's it."

"What did you say to her?"

"Nothing. Just pleasantries. She had picked up Acorn's toy when he dropped it."

"Why would she be in here searching for something?"

Elizabeth lifted her hands in confusion. "I don't know. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was just mad about a health and welfare inspection. You went through her stuff so she decided to mess with our place. Seeing me in the hallway reminded her of you going through her stuff. She wants a little payback. Mess up our place. Take our kid temporarily. You know, inconvenience us because you inconvenienced her."

"I looked through her locker and berth. I didn't steal a kid."

"What other reason could she have?"

"Seems a bit much. I'd figure out it was her and write her up. She'd be in more trouble than it's worth just to get even with me for doing an inspection. . . . . Which means she might be the person who assaulted you and is involved in the corn scheme."

"If she was the person who hit me with the laptop and stole it, why is she coming back to our quarters?"

"Pull up more footage. Try the hallway?"

Elizabeth clicked on her keyboard, and was rewarded with a blank screen. Her forehead crinkled in puzzlement as she clicked some more.

"That's odd. It says there's no connection. That the electrical system's got a glitch. It must have just gone down."

"Let's go to the security office, " Jack told her and moved towards the door.

"It won't do any good. I'm hacked in. No cameras or videos are working."

Jack and Elizabeth stared at each other. Wondering the next step.

"Let's think rationally," Jack announced as he tried to make sense of the situation. "Someone was smuggling corn on-board the transporter to take it to Coal Valley to substitute for a lesser grade and be awarded a lucrative contract. I did inspections but couldn't find anything. You accidentally received holograms linking people to the scam. Someone hit you over the head when you caught them stealing your laptop. Now someone has taken Aaron and looked through our stuff. Why?"

A bewildered Elizabeth moved to sit down and felt Aaron's cord of objects hanging out of her back pocket. She pulled it out and set it next to her on the berth.

A split second later her eyes got wide and she grabbed it again. "The flash drive!" she exclaimed.

"What about it?"

"Jolene saw me with it," a stunned Elizabeth shouted out as she showed the home-made toy to Jack. "When Aaron dropped it, I thought she was looking at me oddly because it's a weird assortment of playthings for a baby and I was explaining how his toys were sent to Mock Earth. That I had taken objects and stung them together for him to play with. But she didn't care about that! She was staring at it because she saw the flash drive! I put a flash-drive on the cord because it's all encased in plastic so I didn't think it was a hazard for Acorn. He could chew on it and he'd be fine. She wants the flash-drive! She thinks I have a copy of the holograms on it!"

"And she came here looking for it?"

"She didn't know I was going to your office to get you. Maybe she thought I came back here before dinner. She didn't find me or the toy here so she went to the Cafeteria. But Acorn didn't have it with him! Because I had it in my back pocket!"

"Is one of the holograms on there?!" an astounded Jack asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, but she doesn't know that. She wants the flash drive to destroy it."

"And she's using Aaron as leverage to get it," Jack said worriedly.


	98. Chapter 98 The Search Begins

**CHAPTER 98 – THE SEARCH**

"Leverage?"

Elizabeth's voice cracked at Jack's announcement that her son was being used as some sort of bargaining chip.

"He's not leverage. He's my baby," she added in her quivering pitiful voice. "My tiny baby boy."

"Buck up," Jack ordered her. He hated being harsh, but he knew that if he coddled her, she might just fall apart. And that wouldn't do them any good.

"Sorry. You're right," Elizabeth agreed.

She hardened her face and looked at Jack with renewed confidence.

"Let's find that bitch and get our son back."

"That's my girl."

* * *

"How?" Elizabeth questioned.

She was determined to get her son back in her arms, but her education was more along the lines of diagraming sentences and figuring out simple math word problems. How long does it take two parents to find one stolen baby on a large transporter full of 200 people hurtling through space at more than light speed wasn't something she could answer on her own.

"She doesn't know that we know it's her. That gives us the upper hand for now. Let's try the simplest way first," Jack told her as he pushed the small "o" button on his messenger bracelet, and raised the device to his mouth.

"Crew member Jolene Zyrus –"

"Why'd you stop?" Elizabeth anxiously questioned when Jack had abruptly stopped speaking into the small square on his wrist. "Call her!"

"The intercom's not working. Listen. Do you hear it come out?"

He nodded towards the intercom box mid-way up the wall. "I'm on the security open channel."

He returned his attention to his messenger bracelet and spoke into it again. "Attention. All personnel. Attention. All personnel."

A fretful Elizabeth stared at the intercom box but it remained silent. Not even a crackling bit of noise had been emitted.

"Push your button again. Maybe you're doing it wrong." Elizabeth urged him. She refused to believe that their only way to communicate with the missing Jolene was not working.

"I am not doing it wrong," Jack answered in exasperation. "I know how to use the security's open channel."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm the HEAD OF SECURITY! Of course, I know how to use it!"

He swiftly moved over to the intercom box and pushed his hand on the black button. "Communications Center. This is Officer Thornton. Do you read me?"

The couple impatiently stared at the intercom box but it remained quiet. No one returned their message.

"They _have_ to answer. Someone's always there. It's the rule," Elizabeth announced adamantly as if the required procedures would magically make someone able to respond to their message.

"Something's been tampered with. The cameras and vidoes are down, and now the intercoms aren't transmitting properly."

"Can she do that?"

"She's an electrician with experience on this ship. Remember the recent upgrades before this voyage? She probably had training in everything new, plus enough experience from her past trips."

"But why?"

"So we can't notify the ship's occupants. At least not all at once. Think about it. If the whole ship was looking for her, she'd never get away with anything. She's shut down our ability to do a mass alert."

"ATTENTION. ATTENTION."

"It's working!" Elizabeth screamed excitedly when the intercom seemed to come alive. "What did you do?!"

"Nothing. It just –"

"A MALFUNCTION IN THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS HAS BEEN DETECTED. A MALFUNCTION IN THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS HAS BEEN DETECTED. ELEVATORS, DOORS, AND OTHER SHIP FEATURES MAY NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY. PLEASE REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE WHILE THE SYSTEM IS EVALUATED."

The second that the announcement was over, Jack smacked a hand onto the intercom's black button and hurriedly spoke into the box. "Communications Center. This is Officer Thornton. Do you read me?"

Nothing.

Silence.

"Communications Center. This is Officer Thornton. Do you read me?" he repeated with more urgency.

There was no response.

"It must be that only the computer's automated system can work but nothing else. Damn it!" Jack slammed his hand against the wall.

"What do we do now?"

"We go get our son back." Jack's hard voice was confident and without question.

If Elizabeth wasn't on his side, she almost would have felt sorry for anyone who got in his way. Almost, but not quite.

* * *

Jack wedged his fingers in between the door and the jamb and pulled the large solid board to the side.

"Out" he urged Elizabeth.

Once in the corridor, the couple surmised that Jolene would have taken Aaron to the lowest levels, which tended to be less populated. The living quarters on the other floors would be a buzz of activity as night workers awoke, some still in their quarters when the announcement had been made. Day workers would be in the cafeteria, or in their own quarters. A few people would be in the fitness center. Others would be at their duty stations or in their laboratories.

"We'll have to take the stairs," Jack said as he moved past the elevator.

* * *

"I think we should split up," Elizabeth told him as she hurried down the steps following on Jack's heels. "You take sublevel B. I'll take C."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. We'll cover more area."

"I know the ship pretty well from my rounds. Maybe we should stick together."

"Between hunting for him when he was flying without gravity, and the times I walked or jogged the corridors with him, I know it pretty darn well myself. I'll be fine," she replied hurriedly. Her voice was full of nervous energy.

Jack paused in front of the door marked Sublevel B. "Be careful."

"I will. You too."

He moved his upper body forward to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Without thinking, Elizabeth grasped a hold of him and pulled him into a passionate kiss. She pressed her mouth against his and felt his warmth. She wanted to cling to him. To feel his intensity. To have him take her right there in the stairwell.

"Now?!" a shocked Jack exclaimed as he pulled back from her lips. He gave her a look of disdain. "You kiss me like that at a time like this?!"

"I can't help it!" she wailed. "You're sexy!"

"Concentrate!" he ordered her.

Elizabeth quickly put aside thoughts of her sexy husband and shifted her focus. "I've got the flash-drive, so if you get to her first, stall until I find you. I'll do C level and then come to B. Or take her with you and come to C level."

"And if you get to her first?"

"I'll kick her ass."


	99. Chapter 99 -The Search Continues & Ends

**CHAPTER 99 – THE SEARCH CONTINUES & ENDS**

Before separating, Jack and Elizabeth had agreed that when they found Jolene, they wouldn't accuse her of anything. Instead, they'd let her lead the conversation.

Years ago, Jack had taken training in hostage negotiations, and during his years with the NADF, he had had one traumatic heart-pounding incident. Afterwards, when he had been awarded a commendation for saving the lives of a bank teller and three customers, Jack, standing on a stage in front of other law enforcement officers, had only thought of one thing. That he hoped he'd never been in a situation like that again.

"Play stupid, Elizabeth," Jack had instructed as the couple stood in the stairwell. "Just pretend that you don't know anything other than she borrowed Aaron for a little bit. Pretend it's no problem. Act naïve. Be the doting mom who finds it entirely understandable that Jolene wanted to spend time with an adorable baby. You can even ask her to hold the flash-drive toy while you take Aaron into your arms. And then conveniently walk away and pretend you forget that she has it. She'll get the flash-drive. You'll get Aaron."

"And if you find her first?"

"When I get Aaron safe, I'll handle her next."

* * *

Elizabeth grunted as she pried open another door. She had already opened at least ten and found no sign of Jolene or Aaron.

A man, who looked to be in his thirties, was leaning back in his chair. He clumsily sat upright when he noticed the door opening. "Sorry, just dozed off there for a bit."

"Have you seen my son?"

"Nah. You lose him again?" the unconcerned man asked. Elizabeth vaguely recognized him from one of her late-night walks around the ship.

She looked around his small office which was covered with charts and diagrams. She had no idea what he did for work, but it didn't appear to be an important job if he could doze off at his desk without worry about the transporter crashing, exploding, or going off course.

"I think Jolene Zyrus may have him. Have you seen her lately?"

"No. Sorry. But, you know, we're not suppose to move about while the electricity's not working," he added with a hint of criticism. "Didn't you hear the announcement? To stay where you are."

"I need my son. If you see him, can you please let me know?" Elizabeth asked as she turned to leave.

"Yeah, sure," he answered lazily.

* * *

Elizabeth found a woman – Asian and with dyed purple hair so she was obviously not Jolene, inspecting pipes that ran the length of Sublevel C, but the rest of the rooms and corridors were deserted of humans.

Finally, she came to the cargo hold, which she reasoned would be deserted. At least it should be. The cargo hold was usually only busy prior to lift-off, upon arrival at the ship's destination, and if a ship had taken a direct hit from space debris which could have caused supplies to shift.

Pallets loaded down with equipment and supplies were set in neat stacks reaching almost to the ceiling, which was at least fifteen feet high – much higher than on other levels. The room contained not only laboratory tools, but everything that Coal Valley needed for its citizens to survive until it became more sustainable was supplied by transporters from Earth.

Entering the large room, Elizabeth hurried down the nearest aisle, found no one, and then turned towards the next one.

Despite her hectic pace through most of the level, she wasn't tired. She silently said a thank you for the medication overdose. While Jack may be getting fed up with her insatiable need for him, the other side-effect of having increased energy was coming in handy.

 _Jack and I fooled around in here once_ , she remembered with a wry smile as she looked at the large room.

 _That didn't work out so well._

 _Although, he really should have been more receptive to me._

 _I was just trying to spice things up._

 _STOP! Concentrate Elizabeth!_

She smacked herself on the forehead to bring herself back to the situation.

 _Forget about sex with Jack!_

 _Our son is in danger!_

She scowled. _Damn medication overdose. That should have happened back on Earth._

* * *

Elizabeth was rushing along the stark linoleum floor and past a pallet topped with cartons of powdered milk when she thought she heard a noise.

She stopped abruptly and listened.

She heard it again. Faint. From the next aisle.

"Jolene?" she called out. Her questioning voice seemed to echo in the vast area.

Elizabeth paused and then tentatively called out again. Wondering if her mind had played tricks on her.

"Jolene. It's me. Elizabeth. Are you in here with Aaron? It was so nice of you to take him to give us a break. I'll take him off your hands now."

There was no answer but Elizabeth thought she heard something.

She moved one of her legs in front of the other and quietly crept around the next corner.

Preparing to face her enemy.

When an agitated bird- an escapee from Bertie's aviary– flew within a foot of her face, she wildly ducked to avoid its beating wings.

She allowed her shocked heart to start beating normally again and berated herself for being spooked by a bird.

Pushing a lock of hair from her face, she listened again but the only sound which she heard was the flapping sounds of wings.

She picked up her pace again, and finished searching another two aisles. Looking behind and between the stacks of pallets. She was amazed at the sheer amount of stuff that was being transported.

Powered milk. Soap. Pillows. Canned Food. Bottled water. Hard drives. Linens. Medical supplies.

But no Aaron. No Jolene.

 _Empty_ , she thought in despair.

She fretfully rung her hands together. She had searched the entire level and there was no sign of her precious little baby.

 _Where are they?!_

 _I hope Jack is having better luck._

* * *

Jack pried open the door to one of the auxiliary engine rooms and pushed it far enough open that he could enter.

"Jolene," he said more harshly than he had intended when he saw the woman.

She calmly looked up from a small hand-held computer into which she had been punching numbers. "Hello, Officer Thornton. Good to see you again. I was wondering if it would be you or your wife."

"Where is he?"

The short-haired woman jerked her head to the left in the direction of Aaron who was laying on his back near the edge of a metal catwalk. All Jack could see was two little feet wiggling from behind a piece of machinery. "Right there. He's fine. Doesn't even realize he's a pawn in this situation."

Jack took a step forward.

"Not so fast. I think you have something I need."

"You know I can't let get away with this."

"And you know that I can't let you leave here alive."

* * *

Jack surveyed the room.

A large open-top cistern emitting steam was to one side. The catwalk crossing over its top allowed workers to check the boiling water it held and move easily to another cistern, which held cool water.

A circular metal wheel – at least three feet in diameter- ran on tracks just below the catwalk. Jack wasn't sure what it did, but every so often the turning cog shot out a blue liquid followed by a clear one into the vat below it.

"If I give you the flash-drive, it won't make a difference," Jack told the woman.

"It will save me some trouble," Jolene replied with a teasing smile.

"Even if you kill me, it won't solve your problems. I've already notified the NADF back on Earth of my suspicions. And Elizabeth knows everything."

Jolene only seemed slightly bothered by Jack's words.

"Nice bluff. About notifying NADF. But I know that you haven't notified anyone about anything this evening." She held up her small computer device to emphasis the point.

"I blocked all outgoing messages," she added and then waved her arm around proudly. "In addition to all the other things I did to upset the electrical system and keep you from alerting the entire ship."

"Listen –"

"You really shouldn't have told Elizabeth everything," Jolene interrupted him. "It just makes things more . . . .tragic."

* * *

"You're trapped. I can back out this door and go get help. You're only making things worse for yourself by keeping my son," Jack spoke in an even tone.

"Do you honestly think that you're in charge here? How quaint . . .or arrogant."

"It's over. Move away from my son."

"No."

"Jolene –"

"Stop giving me orders." She wrinkled her face in disgusted surprise. "Is that what you do with that sappy little wife of yours? Give her orders? Does she actually obey them?"

Before Jack could answer, Jolene pushed a button on her small computer.

He didn't get a chance to wonder what she was doing as a two-hundred-pound piece of machinery suddenly swung in his direction and slammed into his side.

He stumbled forward and gasped to get back his breath.

If some of his ribs weren't broken, it would be a miracle. He just hoped that one of the broken bones wouldn't puncture his lungs before he saved his son.

Ignoring the pain in his torso, he threw himself at Jolene.

Unfortunately, he remembered too late what he had read in her personnel file. Former yoga instructor. Green belt in Taekwondo. Brown belt in Karate. Third degree black belt in Judo.

As Jolene pushed him off of herself and jumped to her feet, Jack wondered if his skills in Krav Maga and his black belt in Karate were better than her skills. Or at least an even match.

A sharp kick to his already injured stomach and then her arms smashing down onto his bent-over shoulders caused him to groan and wish that he had taken more martial arts lessons.

* * *

"It's in my pocket," he moaned as he lay curled on the ground. "Take it and leave. I won't have any evidence against you. Just leave."

Jolene smiled condescendingly as she leaned over him. "You spent too much time being a nice family man when you should have been working out."

She reached into one of his pant pockets but it was empty. Undeterred, she moved to the other one.

When she leaned over him, Jack shot out an arm and grabbed her by the neck, yanking her to the ground and smashing her face into the floor.

Blood spurted from her nose, and she growled in anger.

Jack scrambled to his feet and moved away from Aaron so the baby wouldn't get injured in the fight. He had no doubt that even if he was holding his son, Jolene wouldn't hesitate to continue assaulting him.

He swung a fist at her and was rewarded with it landing on her jaw, causing her head to jerk back and blood to splatter on them both.

Too quickly, she recovered and launched a series of her own blows at him.

Jack tasted his own blood in his mouth as he moved about. Ducking from her punches as much as possible, he still took some hits to the body and head even as he felt his fist connecting with her.

His arms took blow after blow as he blocked her kicks and punches.

Jack wasn't sure if he wanted Elizabeth to come to his rescue or not.

If she found him in danger, she might just get killed. For the briefest of moments, he wondered if perhaps it would be better if he was killed before she arrived.

 _Hell no_ , he told himself. _I'm not going down._

His next actions were Dojo perfect. With his arms raised to attack and block, he lifted up one leg to his side. Then, snapping it forward to just before its full extension, he pivoted on his other foot. Turning his body so that the kicking leg moved toward Jolene.

With all the power he could muster, Jack's foot smacked into her face. Sending her stumbling backwards.

She spit out a tooth, and stared at him. Stunned that he was a better competitor than she had initially imagined.

Then she grinned savagely and attacked again.

 **Up next: Chapter 100.**

 **Dear Readers: Thanks for your reviews! I have really enjoyed reading them.** 😊


	100. Chapter 100 - Hot Water

**CHAPTER 100 - HOT WATER**

Elizabeth opened the stairwell door to Sublevel B and entered the still and quiet corridor. She frowned as she wondered which way to go first.

 _Left or right?_ she questioned herself.

 _There were roughly the same number of rooms in each direction._

She was surprised that Jack hadn't finished searching the level already, but then reasoned that with her medication-induced energy, she was probably much faster than he had been.

Noticing a partially opened door at the end of the corridor to her right, she headed in that direction.

She hurried at first. Eager to know if Jack had found Aaron, and if not, to compare stories and discuss their next moves.

As she got closer to the open doorway, she stopped in her tracks. Wondering if perhaps Jack _had_ found Jolene. Perhaps he was in negotiations with her right now. In which case, if he was, she didn't want to interrupt.

Deciding to move forward anyway, Elizabeth was cautious. She didn't want to upset Jack's diplomacy if he was trying to reason with the other woman.

* * *

"Jack?" Elizabeth called out when she entered the room. "Are you in here?"

"Well hello, Elizabeth. Welcome," an almost breathless Jolene greeted her.

Elizabeth jerked towards the sound of the female voice. A part of her was instantly relieved when she saw that Aaron, laying at Jolene's feet, was safe.

Another part of Elizabeth was instantly frightened to see that he was so close to Jolene.

The battered crew member was bent over in obvious pain as she held an arm to her torso. She crouched down and, with her free arm, picked up small Aaron Daniel from the ground.

"Your husband's over there," Jolene said with a nod to her right.

Elizabeth's eyes followed the women's direction. At first she was confused by not seeing Jack.

Then she gasped in horror.

Jack was dangling by his hands from the long horizontal rail of a catwalk. His injured and bloody body was directly over a large cistern filled with steaming water as he struggled to keep from falling in and being boiled alive.

"The water's for the hydraulics," Jolene said nonchalantly by way of explanation.

"Dear Lord," Elizabeth said under her breath and started to move towards Jack.

"Not so fast! Don't forget that your little one's fragile body is in my hands. You and Jack. Always in such a hurry."

Jolene had barely finished speaking when Jack, who had managed to swing up one leg and land a foot on the edge of the catwalk, was hit by a harsh jet of water which burst out of a release valve.

The burst of liquid knocked down his leg and he fought to keep his hands holding onto the slippery rail.

His face was moist with a mixture of fresh water from the jet, steam from the boiling vat below him, and his own tears which were seeping out of his eyes due to the pain which his beaten body felt.

"That jet sends out a burst of water every twelve seconds," Jolene announced calmly- almost with pleasure. "It's cold. It's keeps the upper machinery cooled. But the vat below – the one that your husband is going to fall into – that's kept at a standard two hundred and thirty degrees."

"Jolene, you have to let me get to him," Elizabeth pleaded.

"No. I think not."

"You can't kill him! Not over something as stupid as money! A stupid contract!"

"I'm not going to kill him. He accidentally fell. It's a wet slippery area," Jolene said with a shrug.

"I'll testify against you! You can't kill both of us."

"Technically I can. But I won't. Too suspicious. And actually, to tell you the truth, I'm feeling a bit winded. Your husband's in better shape than I gave him credit for."

"What are you going to do?" a frantic Elizabeth asked hurriedly.

She stole a glance at Jack, and winced when he was again hit by a jet of water. She didn't know how much longer he could continue to hang on to the wet metal rail.

"I'm going to let your husband die. And then I'm going to get the flash-drive, and give you back your son. And I'm going back to my duty station."

"You won't get away with this!" a shocked Elizabeth declared. She stared at the other woman in horror and realized that Jolene was the epitome of someone who was heartless. Cold and calculated.

"It will be your word against mine. You'll be the hysterical wife who misunderstood the situation. Especially with your recent head injury. You've been confused. On medication. You don't know what you saw. It was all just an accident. I don't know anything about corn or a hologram. I never got a hologram. You two came down her for some reason or other. Maybe a little adventurous private time."

"No one will believe that!"

"They probably will. You can't hide from the ship how into each other you two are. You're always kissing, and everyone knows how you managed to get pregnant in Coal Valley when it's supposed to be impossible. It won't be a stretch for people to think that you two wanted a little adventure."

"We came down here to make out?!" Elizabeth questioned in disbelief.

"How should I know? And he fell. And you couldn't get to him in time. You're just a confused woman with a head injury."

"Please don't do this, Jolene, even if you can, " Elizabeth pleaded.

 _My God, I sound like a damn country song._

"Please give me my son."

Elizabeth held out her arms towards the sweet little baby who was dressed in a onesie decorated in pictures of tiny squirrels and wearing a weighed bracelet on each ankle and wrist.

Jolene sneered and made no movement towards Elizabeth.

"Quite a dilemma you have here," Jolene said with a menacing smile. "When I leave here, you can chase me. Or perhaps you'd try to save your husband. But I can't have you do either. What should I do to make sure you don't do either? Hmmm?"

"I won't chase you!" Elizabeth said hurriedly. "I don't care about your stupid food contracts. You can take my flash-drive and destroy it. Here take it! Take it!" Elizabeth stretched out her hand. "Just give me my son. Please. Just give me my son."

"Don't do it, Elizabeth. Not without getting Acorn first!" Jack yelled from across the room. She could tell he was in pain. She heard the anguish in his voice.

Elizabeth ignored his advice. He was alive. That was all that mattered to her about him at this point.

The fact that Jolene thought the flash-drive held what she wanted was Elizabeth's only leverage.

"Did you make any copies? Don't lie to me. I'll be able to check once I download it and check the User access and download history.

"I didn't make any copies," Elizabeth replied hurriedly as she tossed the flash-drive across the room. She needed Jolene to leave so she could get to Jack before he fell to his death. "Now give me my son. Set him down."

The valve let out another angry jet of water.

Almost instantaneously, one of Jack's palms slipped, leaving him dangling with just one hand making the difference between life and death. Elizabeth couldn't breathe as she anxiously waited for Jack to grasp the rail again. Her mind pleading with him to hang on.

"You won't get away with this. Let me help my husband and then we'll talk about this," Elizabeth frantically told Jolene. "Or you can just leave!"

"I will. Get away with it that is. It will be easy enough to convince people that you're irrationally blaming me. You've had it in for me since the electrical cable incident. When your son was almost hurt."

"I haven't!" Elizabeth protested.

"But I just have to get everyone to _believe_ that. And now, in your confused state, you lashed out at me and blamed me for Jack's fall."

"You're injured! Everyone will notice! Your face is bloody and swollen!"

Jolene dismissively waved away any concern. "I clumsily fell down a ladder when I was checking on the electrical glitches."

"Please, Jolene! Please," Elizabeth pleaded. She quickly looked to Jack, who was struggling to get his leg up again. She guessed that he was timing his actions. He had just under twelve seconds until he was shot again by the torrent of water. "Just leave. Give me my son and leave."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Elizabeth. Even you have to understand that. I have to get back to my duty station before anyone notices me missing. And you have to be here alone. All alone with your son when tragedy strikes your family. It's almost a shame that I can't be here to see it. I'm curious as to which one you'll choose."

"Choose? Which one I'll choose? I told you that I won't chase you!"

"That's not the choice you need to make. You'd let me get away to save your husband, I see that now. It's obvious. You're a sappy devoted wife. Everyone on the ship knows it. But if I leave and let you save him, then both of you would be able to testify against me. And I can't have that. No, there's another choice you'll need to make."

"I'll make it! Whatever you want! Just give me my baby and leave." Elizabeth had lost track of how many times she had asked for her son but Jolene remained unmoved by a mother's plea.

" _Whatever_ choice? Are you sure?" the woman smirked.

"What choice?!" Elizabeth screamed. She heard Jack groan as another jet of water blasted him. He had managed to get his second hand back on the rail but he was being waterboarded as his tattered body desperately tried not to fall to his death.

"It all comes down to this. Who do you love more? Your husband or your baby?"

"What are you talking about?!" Elizabeth screamed.

"It came to while I was watching you fretfully stand there like a pathetic woman. How to keep you from chasing me? Watching you with your head anxiously jerking back and forth from Jack to this one in my arms. You barely know what to do with yourself. The two most precious men in your life are in danger. Both of them helpless. How much longer do you think your husband can hang on?"

As Jolene spoke, Elizabeth didn't look at Jack but concentrated her gaze on Aaron. Who did she love more? Her son or her husband. She couldn't look at Aaron's sweet face. Instead she avoided his adorable chubby cheeks and his expressive eyes which were so like Jack's, and she focused on his squirming limbs.

Elizabeth twisted her hands nervously around her wrists. Almost instinctively, Aaron looked at his own little wrists and began tugging on the Velcro straps holding on the doctor-prescribed weights. When they fell to the floor, he proudly moved onto the weights on his ankles. Jolene was so busy talking she didn't even seem to remember that she had the child in his arms. She only considered him a bargaining chip. Something that Elizabeth desperately wanted.

"Look at you. You're a nervous wreck. You probably can't save anyone," the ensign said with a scoff.

Elizabeth had a feeling that Jolene, even though she was injured, could still beat her to a pulp. That didn't worry her as much as Jolene kicking her into the vat of boiling water.

But more importantly, Elizabeth didn't think Jack could last much longer.

Throwing a glare at Jolene, she rushed in his direction.

"You won't come after me. You'll have to live with your choice. Good luck, Elizabeth" Jolene called out.

With her back to Jolene, Elizabeth heard the splash. She knew she would.

Without looking, she knew that Jolene had thrown Acorn in the other cistern; it had cool water but was still at least twenty feet deep.

As Jolene quickly left the room, Elizabeth had already made her choice.

Save her infant son from drowning in the cistern, or save her husband, the only man she would ever truly love, from being scalded alive.

She didn't hesitate but ran for Jack.

 _One second_.

 _Two seconds,_ she counted as she moved quickly.

Elizabeth pushed aside thoughts of Aaron flailing in the deep water, and scrambled onto the slippery catwalk. Desperately hoping that she didn't fall. She had lost count of how many long it had been since the last burst of water. Wondering when the next jet would pummel Jack.

 _Three seconds_

Kneeling down, she wrapped her hands around Jack's wrists. They were damp from the steam and water and she clutched tighter when she felt her fingers slip on his slick skin.

 _Four seconds_

"Get Acorn!" Jack yelled. His face was red and glistened with perspiration and drops of water.

"After I get you."

A blast of water hit her, but she didn't let go.

She refused to let go as she felt Jack's fingers slip from the rail.

 _Five seconds._

Elizabeth arms strained to hold onto Jack.

"How's that weight-lifting at the gym going?" his weak voice asked saracastically as she held his life in her hands but struggled to pull him up.

"I'm trying," she answered through gritted teeth as she tried to heave him up.

"Hurry!"

 _Six seconds._

With a grunt, she heaved Jack up until his elbows were on the edge. Pretty sure, and hoping, that he'd make it the rest of the way on his own, she scrambled away.

 _Seven seconds._

The wet metal walkway caused Elizabeth to fall, but she hurriedly scrambled to her feet.

 _Eight seconds._

Elizabeth made a running leap into the other cistern. She splashed frantically. The distance to her son was only three feet but her heart was pounding that she wouldn't make it in time.

But she did.

There he was. Floating on his back. Cooing like a sweet baby. Eight seconds. That's how long he had been able to float in his last swim class. And now it was up to nine seconds.

Less than a minute earlier, as Elizabeth had watched Jolene holding her son in her arms, she had remembered what Jack had told her weeks ago. Once she had managed to get Aaron to take off his weights – by drawing his attention to them – she thought she had a chance to save both her husband and her son.

 _"I told you. It's not about actually swimming. Not like laps or something. For goodness sakes, he's just a baby," Jack had replied in mild disgust that Elizabeth hadn't been impressed with her son's swimming progress. "It's about flipping onto his back and staying afloat until help arrives."_

"Is he okay?" Jack asked breathlessly as he hobbled over to the edge of the cistern and leaned down.

"We're fine," Elizabeth said with her own breathlessness. She kicked her legs to keep afloat.

Aaron clung to her neck and she held him tight to her body with one arm. With her free arm, she made her way the short distance to the side of the vat.

"Go get the bitch that did this to us!" she ordered.

An injured Jack screwed up his face and gave her a look that clearly indicated he thought she had some odd ideas and, that with a bruised body and painful ribs, he was not going to take her suggestion.

Instead, he weakly reached out a hand to her and helped her and his son out of the vat.

 **Dear Readers: You won't want to miss the next chapter. As many of you know from reading my vignettes written under the name jellybean49, I always like to tidy things up at the end of my stories.**


	101. Chapter 101 Part 3 Epilogue

**CHAPTER** **– PART III - EPILOGUE**

It had been a week since Jolene's arrest.

The woman had been stunned when fifteen minutes after she had left the Thornton trio in the auxiliary engine room, the door to her duty station had opened revealing a wet and injured Jack.

He had paused in her doorway for less than a second. Maintaining his composure, his face showed no anger. No hatred. Just professionalism- albeit waterlogged. Containing his emotions, he put aside the role of victim, father, husband. He was Officer Thornton. Head of Security.

As the very much alive Jack had entered the room to arrest Jolene, he was directly followed by three uniformed crew-members who looked stern and, more importantly, exceedingly well-muscled with enough arms and legs between them to capably subdue the martial arts expert.

At the sight of the four men, Jolene hadn't attempted to fight. She had cursed, stood up from her desk, cursed again, and waited irritably as Jack read her the legal rights which she was afforded as a citizen of North America and a crew member of the transporter.

Walking out of the room, with her clenched hands tied together behind her back, an angry Jolene had passed a bedraggled Elizabeth who was protectively holding Aaron against her chest.

A small puddle had formed at Elizabeth's feet as water dripped from her hair and clothes.

Part of Elizabeth had wanted to reach out and slap the other woman's face. Or punch her jaw. But a part of her was still worried that the Judo woman would retaliate regardless of the men now keeping her prisoner.

Elizabeth had also thought about screaming out a vile name, but she had already used the word _bitch_ in front of Aaron, and she preferred not to repeat any unladylike behavior.

And so, she had simply glared at the electrician.

* * *

Jack, sporting a swollen cheek, had ensured that Jolene was locked up before he had followed Elizabeth's order that he go the infirmary where he had been examined and patched up by the ship's doctor.

His arms, thighs, and shins were bruised from the dozens of times when he had used his limbs to block Jolene's punches and kicks but didn't have any broken ribs, and his spleen had escaped serious injury. The burns on his legs from the steam weren't severe enough to require a skin graft, and had instead been covered with sterile bandages.

"Careful," a hovering Elizabeth had anxiously reminded the medical staff as they tended to Jack.

"I'm fine," Jack had reassuringly replied, but Elizabeth still worried.

She had finally allowed herself to relax when an ultrasound and urine sample had confirmed that Jack didn't have any internal bleeding or kidney damage.

Jack, Elizabeth, and even a curious Aaron had carefully watched as Cassie had injected Jack with pain reliever.

Before the needle had gone into his arm, Elizabeth had made sure that Jack's weight had been correctly noted, the dosage was adjusted, and Aaron was not anywhere within arm's length of the syringe. Now that the medication had run its course through Elizabeth, they didn't want to have to deal with a mistaken overdose in Jack. Of the three Thornton family members, only Jack had escaped an over-dose.

* * *

It was only after he had been medically released from the infirmary and they had all changed into dry clothes that Elizabeth had allowed Jack to prepare the investigation and arrest report.

Aaron, tired from the evening's activities, had slept in Elizabeth's arms as his parents had discussed the corn scandal and prepared a message to Earth.

" . . . . . but I don't understand," Elizabeth had remarked to Jack as he paused in his typing. "How did I end up with the holograms meant for her?"

"That was just coincidence. She wasn't supposed to be on this flight because she had just had training on the new system and was supposed to get leave-time. But then, with people on Earth skeptical of the legitimacy of the corn supply coming back from Coal Valley, her contact wanted her on-board to quickly smuggle in some more perfect ears of corn to quell any suspicion of its origin. She was added to the manifest at the last minute –"

"Just like me," Elizabeth had interrupted.

"Exactly. You were the last of the three of us to be added because you had to pass the physical fitness test and that didn't happen until the day before lift-off. Aaron and I had already been added the day before that. Pretty much everyone else had been on the manifest for months so it was unusual for people to be added so late. You and Jolene were both added at the same time. And the guy in Coal Valley, expecting her to be the only last-minute addition to the manifest, carelessly confused your EC number with hers."

"She assaulted me, she stole my laptop, she kidnapped Acorn, and she tried to kill you," Elizabeth had said with a disbelieving shake of her head. "All for money."

"A lot of money. More money than she could make in a year as an electrician on a transporter. Even with hazard-duty pay. The contracts to supply food on an isolated planet are worth billions. And she wanted a portion of that."

Elizabeth, her head bent forward, had run her hand gently through her son's soft hair and smiled as his chest moved in and out with deep sleep.

"She'll go to jail, right? For doing this to us?"

"For a long time. A very long time. After she testifies against her accomplice."

* * *

In the week since Jolene's arrest, things had gone back to normal on the transporter. Which was a welcome relief to the passengers and crew who were tired of electrical malfunctions, searches of their offices and rooms, and water pipes bursting.

Aaron had a new tooth coming in, and rather than dare try pain medication on him, Elizabeth had tried a variety of other things. Oddly, while no amount of teething toys, rocking in his parents' arms, or ice on a wet cloth kept him from fussing, he was able to be soothed every bedtime by the sweet sound of the voices of John Denver or Celine Dion singing romantic songs from Elizabeth or Jack's computers.

Jack spent the days filling out paperwork and walking around the ship doing his "rounds", which usually involved socializing and enjoying the company of the ship's inhabitants. Once in a while, he handling a noise complaint, which usually involved a crew member trying to get some sleep while roommates in close quarters were trying to party, make-out with a visiting guest, or were simply typing too loudly on their keyboards.

The work wasn't exciting for Jack, but he didn't mind. He actually preferred it. It also gave him time to prepare for this trip's talent show. Elizabeth told him that he could sing anything but the country song "Jolene".

Elizabeth taught her class and prepared lessons for when they arrived at their new home in less than a month. She found her students a joy to work with, even if one or two of them had higher IQ's than her, and she had finally managed to teach the Japanese student enough English, and by default learn enough Japanese herself, that every day wasn't a struggle with the young girl.

Elizabeth hadn't given any thought to the talent show for herself and had been surprised when her students asked her about it.

"We can't wait to see your talent, Mrs. Thornton! Mom says we can't talk about it. I guess that's 'cuz it's a surprise." Eight-year old Susie twirled one of her long braids as Elizabeth had walked down a row of desks to check the student's work.

"My talent? I haven't picked a talent for the show," Elizabeth had curiously responded and then moved on to the next student's computer. "I don't have one yet."

"Yes you do!" Joyce had piped up. "We heard our daddy talking. We just don't know what it means."

Susie had nodded in agreement. "He and our mom were planning a family talent for us - we're doing gymnastics - and all the families are doing something. And then our dad said that the Thorntons have a talent for getting into predicaments."

"And when we asked what that meant, our mom told him to be quiet," Joyce had added helpfully. "But we can't wait to see it! Whatever you get into. Is it one of those tiny boxes where you squish your body?"

Elizabeth had inhaled a deep breath and then exhaled before responding. "No. It is not."

"Can you fit in my desk?" another student had piped up eagerly. "I'd like to see that!"

"Climb in my desk!"

"Then do mine! Is this like Chinese acrobats?!"

* * *

Jack, sitting at his desk in his small office, smiled at the complimentary message from NADF headquarters on Earth which was being broadcast to him, and the follow-up report telling him that he'd be getting a commendation.

When he had been struggling not to fall into the vat of scalding water, feeling much like a live lobster suspended over a chef's pot, his only concern had been his family. Now that he was in a cooler and more relaxed situation and not in danger of being turned into boiled Thornton soup, he couldn't deny that a commendation for his official personnel file was a nice benefit.

He turned off his computer. It had only been a few hours since he had seen his family, but he missed them already.

* * *

The door to the Thornton quarters slid open with a soft small buzz. The room was so small that Jack could see the entire thing without having to turn his body. He didn't mind the size; he was glad to have his family close to him.

The berths were tidy but the floor was littered with home-made baby toys. Aaron's blanket rested on the back of the room's sole chair. A small bowl and a spoon were on the berth next to Elizabeth, but it appeared that her son had preferred her warm breast milk to mushed peas.

The baby, his belly full, stopped nursing and turned to look at Jack. He smiled and made his usual babbling sound that his parents hoped would soon be recognizable as Mama or Dada.

The ship's doctor, and every source Elizabeth had read, assured them that it was still too early for a baby to talk, but that hadn't prevented the couple from betting against each other as to what the boy's first word would be. Jack was sure it would be Dada, whereas Elizabeth was just hoping that it wouldn't be corn, bitch, or murder.

Elizabeth, sitting cross-legged, leaned over and set her happy son on the floor to crawl around. Watching him as he found his rattle under the edge of a lower berth, she fixed her bra but lazily left her blouse unbuttoned, carelessly letting Jack catch a glimpse of her ample figure.

"I give up," Jack announced.

"What?"

"I surrender. I raise the white flag."

Elizabeth gave him a smile. "What was the battle?"

"You. Me. You and me. Doing you know what." Jack moved his hand back and forth between the two of them.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm tired of fighting the inevitable."

"What's inevitable?"

"We're going to make another baby," he d **e** clared it as if it was a done deal.

"When? Today? Because it's not on my schedule. I did plan on it eventually. When we're back on Earth," she humorously replied as she relaxed on the mattress.

"I'm serious. It's in the stars. It's fate."

"It's not fate. It's your libido talking. And mine is finally back to normal."

Jack plopped down on a bottom berth across from her. "Tease if you want. But I'm right. We're going to have sex and have a baby. Sooner rather than later."

"Because of the stars?"

"Actually, I think it's because of this little guy," Jack replied with a motion towards Aaron who had pulled off his socks and begun playing with his tiny toes.

"Acorn?" Elizabeth gave Jack a quizzical look "How is Acorn responsible?"

"How is he _NOT_ responsible? He's done everything in his power to make sure he gets a baby sister or brother soon."

Elizabeth gave a puzzled chuckle. "What are you talking about? He's not even nine- months old."

"That's like five in dog years."

"He's not a dog."

"Good point," Jack admitted. "But he still knows what he's doing. He's trying to get us to expand our family."

"The only thing he's expanding is his stomach," she chuckled. "And he dribbled milk on my blouse."

She undid the bottom two buttons on her top, grasped the end of a sleeve near her wrist, and pulled her arm out before shimmying out of the other sleeve. Tossing the garment onto the mattress, she stood up and lazily went to her locker.

Elizabeth's light-blue bra with its lace trim was one of Jack's favorites. It was the same shade as the famous robin-egg blue packaging from "Tiffany and Company". Jack had once kissed her breasts and teased her that the bra was an appropriate fancy color to be holding her feminine _jewels_ , which had caused her to laugh uproariously at his attempt to be seductive.

He loved seeing her in that bra and he totally held his son accountable for its visible presence at the moment.

"There he goes again," Jack announced in resignation. "He definitely knows what he's doing."

Elizabeth stopped midway with a clean tee-shirt held over her head. "What are you talking about?"

"He dribbled on your blouse so you'd have to take it off in front of me," Jack replied with conviction.

She raised her eyebrows at Jack and smirked before finishing donning the top. "I think he just dribbled. No ulterior motive involved."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"What is up with you?"

"He's been up to something. He wants a brother or sister to keep him company."

"And you deduced this how?" she asked skeptically.

"A long pattern of activity that I just put together today."

"Boring day at the office?"

"Yeah. And I had never suspected that my own son -the son of a law enforcement officer - could manipulate things to get his way. He must really want to be a big brother."

"This I got to hear."

"It started at the beginning. When we were still on Earth. Remember, he kept you from getting a BCHD implant when he fussed at the doctor's office and it fell on the floor."

"So?" she chuckled. "That was just one incident. I was lying on the table ready to get implanted, and I heard him fussing so I turned to look at him and the device fell. It was just a simple accident."

"That was just the beginning. The sly little fellow has been on a mission for months now."

"He's a baby. Not a covert operative."

An undeterred Jack continued. "Not only did he keep you from getting implanted on Earth, but he was responsible for ruining the only BCHD on the transporter when he chewed on it. Did you forget that? Two BCHDs available to you - one here and one on Earth -and he manages to keep you from both of them getting them. Your son manages to ruin _two_ birth control devices."

"You're being silly," Elizabeth replied dismissively at first but her voice trailed off as she considered it more. She took a seat on the berth across from Jack.

"Am I?" he countered with raised eyebrow. "Think about it."

She picked up the teether from next to her on the mattress and looked at it pensively. "There was the problem with the condoms, " she admitted tentatively.

"Let's rethink that one more time," Jack said knowingly. "The timing. He managed to make it abundantly clear to Ensign Sooner that he needed a teether by chewing and drooling in front of him. What are the chances of that?"

Elizabeth eyed her son suspiciously. Seemingly unaware of his parents' discussion, the baby was trying to see if one of his feet would fit in his mouth.

"But still. That's all just coincidence. Isn't it? That he needed a teether in front of the ensign who thought to make him a teether and also had access to silicon."

"Coincidence? With the only available silicon – condoms - on the ship and controlled by a medic, who happens to stop and get his papers chewed on because Acorn needs a teether," Jack said emphatically. "And what about the other condoms?"

"How is that his fault?"

"I needed to stay away from you and keep occupied so I took him swimming. He _looooved_ swimming. Couldn't get enough of it. Didn't want to get out of the pool some days. But he needed a waterproof diaper which meant that someone used up another two dozen condoms to make him one!"

"But that still left us some," Elizabeth argued.

"Not many. And let's not forget why we have already used up most of them. Because he's been in one drama after another which has gotten us all emotional and well, you always get all lovey-dovey when there's been drama."

"Excuse me?!" she asked in an offended tone.

"You know it's true. Whenever there's drama, you get all passionate. Not that I mind. I love it. But you're like some heroine in one of your novels. All sentimental and in love. Like we're in some desperate situation."

"I don't think I'm that extreme," she countered with raised eyebrows.

"You are. "

"I am not. I just love you. And sometimes I like to throw myself in your arms." She shrugged her shoulders in an attempted air of indifference.

"Don't think I didn't hear you the other day when I said your name and you accidentally called me Mr. Darcy."

 _Darn, he heard that?!_

A confident Jack didn't give her other chance to argue that she hadn't been imagining a scene from Pride and Prejudice. "Now back to our son and his plotting. He went missing. And we made love. And then there was the electrical cable fiasco. And we made love. And then there were a bunch of other times when we made love."

"But-"

"And then the coup d'état. The piece de resistance. The ultimate act. He pushed his body against Cassie so she ended up giving you the _entire_ syringe of LIBIDO-INDUCING medication."

"He did!" a suddenly aghast Elizabeth exclaimed. "He did!"

Jack nodded knowingly. "Libido-inducing medication. A lack of condoms. The perfect set-up for you to get pregnant."

"That little –"

"But he didn't finish there! Oh no, our son had one more ace up his sleeve. The final touch. Suddenly, he can only fall asleep at night to sexy romantic songs being played in the darkness. How many nights have we made love since that started!"

Elizabeth jumped up from the berth and stared agog at her son.

"The little imp! He's been trying to get me pregnant! So he can have a sibling!"

"I told you."

"What are we going to do?!"

Jack shrugged.

"Well?!"

"Give him what he wants," he announced as the corners of his mouth moved up in a smile.

 **The End of Part III**

 **Dear Readers: Thanks for joining me on this ride. I hope you all enjoyed it and it gave you something to look forward to reading during your days and nights, whether it be snuggled under the covers in bed, in a doctor's waiting room, on a subway on your way to work, sitting at home on the couch, or wherever you found the time. I also hope it made you heart race, made you smile, and filled you with warm feelings.**

 **If you like to read more of my work, I've written several other stories under the name WOOLENSLIPPER and I've also written 14 vignettes under the name JELLYBEAN49.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed and messaged me! It's truly appreciated.** 😊 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊


End file.
